On World Suicide Prevention Day, save a life

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A follower on twitter once appealed to me for help because he wanted to kill himself. Whether it was a joke or not , I replied back if he wanted to talk. This did not sit well for one or two twitter followers who thought I should not have replied to that person in public.

See, I try to help anyone I can in Twitter whether it is about traffic, the weather, the location of a shop or just about any mundane thing. Why can’t I help someone crying out for help?

Are you uncomfortable helping out someone who could kill himself/herself? Would you rather ignore and hope it is all a joke. Well, I have seen the effect of suicide deaths in family and I know that these families never had any idea their loved one would die through suicide. When a child dies or a loved one takes their own life, the storyline is heart-achingly derailed.

Family members often blame themselves, thinking they could have done something to prevent the death. To lose someone suddenly is indeed a shock, but a suicide makes grief more complex. Those left behind can feel such guilt and regret. Why couldn’t I save him/her?

While most would see someone who had taken their own life, we see someone who died of an illness. On average, almost 3, 000 people commit suicide daily. For every person who completes a suicide, 20 or more may attempt to end their lives. Prevention can mean something as simple as asking, not ‘How are you?’ but ‘Are you okay?’

It helps to know about suicide prevention.

I added a Suicide Prevention page to save a life. Suicide prevention is everybody’s business. What many are not aware is not we can educate our community that suicide is a preventable public health problem in the Philippines. Suicide should no longer be considered a taboo topic, and that through raising awareness and educating the public, we can SAVE lives.

Consider the facts on suicide:

1. Every year, almost one million people die from suicide; a “global” mortality rate of 16 per 100,000, or one death every 40 seconds.

2. In the last 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide. Suicide is among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 years in some countries, and the second leading cause of death in the 10-24 years age group; these figures do not include suicide attempts which are up to 20 times more frequent than completed suicide.
Suicide worldwide is estimated to represent 1.8% of the total global burden of disease in 1998, and 2.4% in countries with market and former socialist economies in 2020.

3. Although traditionally suicide rates have been highest among the male elderly, rates among young people have been increasing to such an extent that they are now the group at highest risk in a third of countries, in both developed and developing countries.

4. Mental disorders (particularly depression and alcohol use disorders) are a major risk factor for suicide in Europe and North America; however, in Asian countries impulsiveness plays an important role. Suicide is complex with psychological, social, biological, cultural and environmental factors involved.

World Suicide Prevention Day is today, September 10. “It promotes worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicides.

The sponsoring International Association for Suicide Prevention, the co-sponsor WHO and other partners advocate for the prevention of suicidal behaviour, provision of adequate treatment and follow-up care for people who attempted suicide, as well as responsible reporting of suicides in the media.

At the global level, awareness needs to be raised that suicide is a major preventable cause of premature death. Governments need to develop policy frameworks for national suicide prevention strategies. At the local level, policy statements and research outcomes need to be translated into prevention programmes and activities in communities.”

To help show your support and raise awareness, organizers suggest that you light a candle at 8pm and place it in a window in your home to honor the day.

Read my Suicide Prevention page to save a life.

Ernie, AJ Matela, Kippy cat and me

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Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.

I first met Ernie during one of our blogger trips in Tagaytay. AJ Matela would let Ernie sit on a chair or on any flat surface and then he’d take a picture. He used to say it is his travel mascot. I found it cute.

So I copied AJ. No, I didn’t copy Ernie. I used Kippy Cat. I know I am such a copy cat.

During my trip to San Francisco , (my first since my son’s death) in 2008, I brought Kippy Cat along with me. Kippy cat was Luijoe’s favorite toy that comforted him when I used to travel in the past and left him home with my husband.

It pained me that I was never able to fulfill my son’s wish that we would travel to the US together. Perhaps it is one of the reasons that I lost interest to travel before 2008. For years, I was consumed with the myriad reminders of my son’s life and death. It wasn’t an easy journey. Today, I now know that death may have taken away my son but he lives forever in my heart and in my memories. Perhaps he might not have visited the states with me but he is right here with me in spirit. So Kippy Cat is now my travel mascot, pretty much like Ernie is to AJ.

With the news that AJ died last night, I feel deep sorrow. It is my grief talking. He had been sick for a long time now . It is painful to see someone like AJ die so young.

I am thankful to AJ who reminded me that I can always bring my Luijoe in my heart when I travel. As I hold Kippy Cat close to my chest a flood of happy and poignant memories lift me to high spirits and I feel the comfort of my son’s love.

Now there is an added dimension, I wil always remember AJ for this. AJ wil forever be alive in my heart and in my memories.

When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.

I can only imagine the grief that AJ’s parents and loved ones are having right now but we can help them in our own little way.

Let’s help AJ’s family We need 1,000 Volunteer-Friends who can help AJ’s family. Please join us.

AJ may have left us but he will always live in our hearts.

To live in hearts we leave behind
Is not to die.
~Thomas Campbell

How to help

Visit the info page of 1000 Volunteers for AJ Matela

Other blogposts by AJ’s friends who will all miss him:

Charmed by Marzipan, the celebrity cat at Astor Theatre

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The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat. ~Jules Reynard

I am not easily impressed with celebrities, whoever they may be—actors, actresses, politicians or what not. But meeting Marzipan was different. It was my daughter who told me all about Marzipan when she watched a movie at the elegant Astor Theatre. If you are in Melbourne, you probably know about the Astor Theatre built in the 1930s. It still retains the old-fashioned double-bill format. The original art-deco furnishings create a unique atmosphere for movie-goers.

As I walked past the winding staircase of the theatre, my daughter caught sight of Marzipan snoozing on her basket. She patted the furry ball and pretty soon, Marzipan stood up posed like a queen.

What a cutie. There she stood with her haughty yet regal cat look.

Her paws were crossed just like a fine lady. How regal.

I felt honored when Marzipan jumped up to my lap. You know that feeling when your celebrity-idol smiles at your direction? That is how I felt when Marzipan snuggled on my lap and allowed me to caress her. There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat. Simple joys, I know .

Many know that Astor Theatre is known for its unique programming to the legendary Astor Choc-Ice but the celebrity of the house is what everyone loves most about the theatre. That is what I want to believe. I am such a cat lover.

They say “a meow massages the heart.” Marzipan can’t make purry sounds. She is close to twenty years old and may be even deaf.

Playing both well-loved classics and recent releases, the Astor Theatre offers a variety of films. I came an hour before the film began (though I didn’t watch any) and snuggling up with Marzipan in their sumptuous couch and eating Choc-Ice is just so heavenly.

There is more to the Story of Marzipan.

Some nineteen years later, after startling a variety of viewers each and every time she runs across the banister during Poltergeist or sashays up and down the auditorium steps during 2001‘s Dawn of Man, after achieving a level of local fame long-standing members of staff could only dream of, not to mention playing to the sympathies of passers-by who then feed and provide an excess of blankets for her, Marzipan is still able to scale the theatre walls and somehow mysteriously hears the FOH Supervisor call her for dinner despite her being apparently deaf.

And what of it? Marzipan is the kind of kitty who adores everyone’s endless and unbridled attention. What cat wouldn’t? She has a whole team of ushers to clean out her kitty litter, not to mention more than five hundred friends on facebook. She’s the only one at the theatre who’s received postcards from patrons when they’re on vacation and she’s usually the only one the journos want to feature in their photographs of the theatre too. Receiving the biggest cheer of all at our 75th Anniversary Celebrations in April of this year, Marzipan is Melbourne’s little darling and yet she remains as down-to-earth as ever. Well, maybe every now and again she has a moment of diva about her…

I am so charmed with Marzipan as with all cats. Marzipan sat on my lap as long as she could while I patted her neck. She didn’t want to play favorites she jumped on to my daughter and other movie-goers who were seated in other couches.

Oh , cats are just so independent. Cats come and go without ever leaving. With a sigh, I let her go.

When I went back to my hotel, I added myself as one of her fans in her facebook page, Marzipan the Astor Cat.

There are two means of refuge from the misery of life – music and cats. ~Albert Schweitzer

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

There is no must in art because art is free

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Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. Edgar Degas

The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) at Hobart, Tasmania is just amazing and thought provoking. It is not art for arts sake. The MONA is a $200 million, quixotic project of Tasmanian businessman David Walsh. He commissioned the Museum from architect Nonda Katsalidis, filled it with his own art and made admission free. You know how they say “The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.” As I moved from one art piece to the next, I often ask myself “what is the message here? or what is the artist trying to convey?”

Whether I’m painting or not, I have this overweening interest in humanity. Even if I’m not working, I’m still analyzing people. – Alice Neel

Visitors to MONA get iPods when they enter the museum. As you walk around, ‘The O’ displays information about the works near you and plays you interviews with the artist.

I am not visually literate but so this nifty iPod help me understand some of the ideas. I have seen the case of the closure of Mideo Cruz exhibit by the bishops and other creative expressions whose concept and presented ideologies they do not agree with. Some of the pieces can come off disturbing and interesting at the same time.

I am interested to see the perspective of the artist and their thought process. “Walsh, the owner of MONA has a scientific mind with an artistic temperament. In Andrew Frost’s interview for ABC TV, David Walsh says that if he could make art, he would. He has an intellectual fascination with Darwinian evolution, time, ancient cultures and the dark areas of our humanity.”

I’m painting an idea not an ideal. Basically I’m trying to paint a structured painting full of controlled, and therefore potent, emotion. Euan Uglow

At MONA you are invited to physically and mentally relax. On the main floor, there is a bar and lots of cool furnitures to lounge about on. My daughter and I are lucky that there was no entrance fee but soon a $20 fee will be required from visitors aside from the fee of the ferry boat. The Os invite you to listen to the commentary and absorb yourself in a private bubble. Nonda Katsalidis’s grand architecture is modest and calming in the exhibition spaces.


(White library by Wilfredo Prieto. White books, shelves, tables and chairs. Born 1978, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba; lives and works in Havana, Cuba, and Barcelona, Spain 2004-6)

“In the interview on The O with Monanism artist Jan Fabre, he says that ““art makes us understand we are unbearable”.
In another context, Australia’s only living Nobel laureate writer, J.M.Coetzee, asks ‘Where does the discontented feeling come from, unique to mankind, that we are not well, and what is it that we desire to be cured of?’ (In ‘Italo Svevo’, Inner Workings: Literary Essays 2000-2005, Knopf: North Sydney, 2007, 1-14)”


(Cunts and other conversations by Greg Taylor and friends. 150 life-size porcelain portrait sculptures of women’s cunts. Born 1959, Bega, NSW, Australia; lives and works in Melbourne, Australia. 2008–9 . A gallery of 150 vaginas from all ages 18 to 78 years old .)

The brilliance of MONA’s sex art is that it brings a wider audience to have this impolite conversation about ourselves, sharing one of the most powerful insights in the history of ideas.

“Walking around MONA, you see $200 million dollars worth of private wealth and it is shocking. How can any mortal accumulate such an obscene fortune? Then you think a little more on it and see the positive side. Can MONA provoke Australia’s winging, polluting mining magnates and other billionaires to do something meaningful with their lives and all that damn money?”

I heard David Walsh was a gambler , very gifted with Math and this made him acquire so much wealth which he used to buy Art pieces.

At the MONA, I am lost in my thoughts, often wondering how artists thinks. Here are just bits and pieces of the rest of MONA.


(SCHATTENSPIEL (SHADOWPLAY) HANS-PETER FELDMAN Trestle tables, turntables, lamps, electric motors, plastic figurines. Born 1941, Düsseldorf, Germany, where he lives and works 2005)


(Fat Car, by Erwin Wurm. Porsche Carrera chassis, body and interior, with polystyrene and fibreglass. Born 1954, Bruck an der Mur, Austria; lives and works in Vienna, Austria 2006)

Painting is so poetic, while sculpture is more logical and scientific and makes you worry about gravity.- Damien Hirst

I’m painting an idea not an ideal. Basically I’m trying to paint a structured painting full of controlled, and therefore potent, emotion. – Euan Uglow

You come to nature with all her theories, and she knocks them all flat. Renoir

Here is a video done by my daughter while I finish the rest of this entry.

Museum of Old and New Art on Vimeo.

I am not much of an art critique so let me give you a Review of David Walsh’s Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania from a MONA visitor.

Review of David Walsh’s Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania

There is no must in art because art is free. – Wassily Kandinsky

A Sunday stroll with native Australian animals

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I am fascinated with native Australian animals. I know this peculiarity has something to do with its location in the Southern hemisphere. The best place to see these animals is Healesville , well known for the Healesville Sanctuary, a nature park with hundreds of native Australian animals displayed in a semi-open natural setting. My daughter and I spent most of Sunday here at the park.

I adored the koala, the wallaby, the dingo and I even chilled with Josie, the kangaroo. There was a wombat but he was at the Healesville Health Centre for observation. Lucifer , the Tasmanian devil kept hiding but I managed to spot him towards the end of our sunday stroll.


Much of what is now Healesville lies on the ancestral land of the Wurundjeri people.


A dingo is fascinating. Is it a wolf or a dog? Dingoes have three basic forms of howling (moans, bark-howl, and snuffs) with at least 10 variations.


Watching a dingo. Villain or victim? Controversy has surrounded the Dingo in Australia but new research suggests that this iconic predator could be an ecological saviour and help to restore the natural order of the Australian bush.


The Australian Wildlife Health Centre at Healesville Sanctuary treats sick and injured animals.


A wombat is being taken cared of at the centre. Aside from treatment to the sick animals, the centre provides vital veterinary support for Healesville Sanctuary’s threatened species conservation programs, conducts cutting-edge wildlife conservation research, and is an important centre for wildlife disease surveillance.


Watching the Koalas eating Eucalyptus is so enjoyable.


So cute to watch the koala recline and enjoy his meal of leaves from eucalyptus trees. There are about 750 species of eucalyptus but these cute koalas find 60 of them tasty to their palate.


The Koala knows he is cute and stares at the ooglers so they can take a shot at him.


The highlight of the day was a magic moment with the red kangaroos where we are allowed to feed them. We are only allowed to feed the female red kangaroos because the males can be quite aggressive. They also have larger claws.

As I took photos of my daughter, Josie sniffs at my direction because I had carrots wrapped on my left hand. It wasn’t my turn yet to feed them.

The kangaroo keeper briefed us on how to feed the kangaroos. The carrots should be placed flat on the palms and almost ground level. Crystal takes some carrots on my daughter’s palm while Josie insists on the carrots still clenched on my hands.

It is now my turn to feed Josie. I didn’t realize how eager she was to eat carrots and points to my clenched hand.


I didn’t want to give all the carrots at once so I had them on my left hand. Josie insisted on getting all of them so sniffs at my hands which I had pressed against my chest.


Ouch. I refuse to give the carrots all at once so she sort of claws off my hand.


The keeper reminds us to pat the kangaroo at their back not on the head like we do with dogs. Next to cats, their fur are just as soft. Joise is the oldest kangaroo at 16 years old and is almost blind. Maybe that is why she goes by her sense of smell to badger me with food.

There are other native Australian birds which are just so lovely to watch.


A yellow robin sitting comfortably on its nest.


A barn owl


I think these are pelicans. There is a fishy smell in this lake.


Lucifer, the Tasmanian devil is hard to take photos. He darts in and out. This iconic Australian animal is now under serious threat from the Devil Facial Tumour Disease, a fatal and contagious condition that is spreading through wild populations. Healesville Sanctuary is part of a breeding program to maintain a healthy population.

There is just so much to do at the Healsville sanctuary but it was a great learning experience to see them up close. A sunday stroll with Australian animals is best explored with little children. I loved watching their squeals of delight. I may not be with little kids but my adult daughter is quite an experience too especially since she knows more about animals than I do.

Most of the photos attributed to my daughter using the Nikon D7000. Some are from my iPhone

A friend hears the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails

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A woman is the full circle.
Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform. ~ Diane Mariechild ~


Rica and I go back when we were little kids romping around the school grounds of St. Theresa’s College Cebu. I thought we graduated in the same high school. It dawned on me that we had not seen each other for the last forty years but I remember her so well. Childhood memories can be so vivid. My memory fails me now but I knew there was something we had shared together in the past.


Rica is somewhere to the left and I am somewhere to the right

Thanks to Facebook, Rica found me at about the time I made plans to visit my daughter in Melbourne. What a treat I had the other day. There were just so many things to catch up. Memories to unravel. Amidst the sights and sounds of Melbourne, our stories unfolded. True, our memories may fail us now but our hearts remember as we spent the day together.

A cruise along the Yarra river of Melbourne.

Seeing Melbourne’s development.

Catching sight of the penguins by the rock.

Having lunch by the South bank

Stop to smell the flowers

It is good to wake up and smell the flowers while listening to classical music.

The stroll to the Fitzroy gardens stirred a memory.

I turned to Rica “Weren’t we mediocre students?” We laughed together, remarking how silly we were for not studying hard enough.

There you go, we had something in common back when we were little kid but not today. Rica and I evolved from being mediocre to doing what we love best. Something in her life touched me which I will just keep to myself.

Her sculpture “Joyfully Onwards and Upwards” won first prize for the amateur division. Amazing! Rica reminded me “Amatuer”. Still, I would never be able to sculpt like that. I never knew she had artistic talents. It must have been a latent gift.

We talked about the symbolism of her sculpture. It reminds me of the struggle to pass the Reproductive Health bill. Women need to have choices. Rica believes that women can empower themselves to go outwardly and move up. Both of us believe that one has to honor and treating ourselves with respect so that we set the stage up for others to treat us with respect. The sculpture also reminds me of the lives and passion we have chosen. Rica, on paying forward by helping women get an education.

I too believe that women need to challenge themselves. Margaret Sanger once said “Woman must not accept; she must challenge. She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her; she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression.” It can come in art, writing, advocacy, business or anything that she can be.

I asked if I could use the image of her sculpture so I could show to the world about the potential of women, that it is never too late to get out of mediocrity no matter the age or circumstance. I wanted to sit down at the hotel and write about my day with Rica.

But guess what? Rica got to me first. She painted this and entitled it “Noemi”. I am so honored.

She did this for me. I felt a tug in my heart. My heart can only sing praises she will never hear.

I wonder how she painted this. All I know is splatter paint. In her facebook note, she added this “piece will always remind me of your beautiful and lovely personality.. it connotes warmth and vibrance. I love your story and what you have done with your life.”

I don’t know who deserves the title of a “a very beautiful and warm person” . I know we all have that capacity.

Oh yes we can, “joyfully Onwards and Upwards”.

I love you Rica. Thank you for a wonderful day. Till we meet again.

Photos: The Great Ocean Road in Australia

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It is my third day in Australia and my daughter took a day off from work to give me a treat to the Great Ocean Road. I didn’t expect much from day tours. They can be boring but the itinerary was exciting . It helped that Ash, our Aussie tour guide/driver was so funny. The Great Ocean Road is a 243-kilometre (151 mi) stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool. I didn’t expect to see so much from black swans, the lazy koala resting on the eucalyptus branches and a Lory that perched on my shoulder at the Kennet Park

The sight along the route is picture pretty, from cows to sheeps. The road traverses rainforests, as well as beaches and cliffs composed of limestone and sandstone, which is susceptible to erosion.The road travels via Anglesea, Lorne, Apollo Bay, and Port Campbell, the latter being notable for its natural limestone and sandstone rock formations including Loch Ard Gorge, The Grotto, London Arch and The Twelve Apostles.


Kennett Park


Bells Beach


A lighthouse


First time to see black swans


Entrance to the Great Ocean Road


A lazy koala at the Kennett Park


Still at Kennett Park


Many Lory birds


Spotted a koala who just woke up


At the rainforest


12 Apostles and now just 8 left are left.


Just beautiful to watch! Twelve Apostles limestone stack formations.


Just 10 minutes from the Twelve Apostles, this place was named after a clipper ship Loch Ard which was wrecked on a nearby Muttonbird Island after a 3-month journey from England to Melbourne. The amazing thing was only 2 survivors made it out of the 51 people on board

The London Bridge now named as the London Arch

Thank you M for such a lovely day. The 12 hours though tiring was worth the ride.

And of course Ash, our wacky tourist guide.

Most photos by my daughter using a Nikon D7000.

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.