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 I MPACT May 2006 / Vol 40 • No 5

CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
Public Morality .............................................................. 2 5
COVER STORY The year 2006 is a “Social Concerns Year”.
This was declared by the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of the Philippines this January in a
Pastoral Statement entitled Renewing our Pub-
lic Life through Moral Values. One actually
wonders what triggered the bishops to come up
with the declaration. Was it timed for the re-
lease of the Compendium of the Social Doc-
trine of the Church—albeit belatedly? Or be-
cause of the growing socio-political apathy per-
COVER PHOTO CREDIT: ROY LAGARDE

ceived to be prevalent in the country today?

The Scourge of Rice Cartel: Has NFA Failed? ........ 1 6
ARTICLES
From Solidarity to Human Security ........................... 4
Bioethical Challenges in the New Millennium ....... 8
The Tausugs in Bud Dajo Did Not Die in Vain ..... 1 2
Message of the Holy Father Benedict XVI for the
40th World Communications Day ........................... 1 4
Graduation Thoughts ................................................... 2 1
STATEMENTS
Easter Fruit of the Tree of the Cross ......................... 2 6
Pastoral Statement on the Alleged “People’s
Initiative” to Change the Constitution ................... 2 7
DEPARTMENTS
Quote in the Act .............................................................. 2
Cinema Review ............................................................. 2 3
Quotes in Quiz .............................................................. 2 3
From the Blogs ............................................................... 2 4
From the Inbox .............................................................. 2 8
Vanilla Bytes ................................................................. 2 9
News Briefs ...................................................................... 3 0
People going to rallies are getting scantier—
or at least not as much as in the past decades.
Social advocates or a good number of them
have joined the political front through sectoral
representations in Congress which, although
nobody bewails, are not known for towing the
causes of sectors they represent. Not a few
non-government organizations (NGOs) are still
being used till this day for ideological agenda
lurking on the sidelines. Or so goes the common
sociological perceptions, wrongly or rightly.
The subtle drift of the “bayanihan” Filipino
value doesn’t come surprising in the face of a
government that has successfully dressed “so-
cial concern” with pay-offs, political patronage,
and agenda-laden giveaways. Hopefully, the
“Social Concerns Year” will goad the Filipino
sociological values back on track. Incidentally,
Impact Magazine, together with the CBCP
Monitor, have been chosen as the official pub-
lications of the Social Concerns Year. Not new
for Impact which was also the official organ of
the Social Action Year in 1968.
In From Solidarity to Human Security,
Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, SJ, probes deeper
into the Compendium of the Social Doctrine
of the Church. Human security is sociological
which can only be achieved in communion and
solidarity.
Food security is what brings us to our cover
story. Where in the world can you find a country
where staple food, such as our rice, is taxed
50% or so higher than luxury items and 100%
more than mining companies who have enjoyed
tax holidays no end? The scourge of a rice
cartel is story enough. But has NFA failed?,
Bob Acebedo disturbingly asks. Read on.

Volume 40 • Number 5 3

I
f one were asked to summarize the so-
cial teachings of the Church in one
word, we could adopt Pope John Paul
II’s favorite term, “Solidarity.” The dictio-
nary defines “solidarity” as “agreement of
all elements or individuals”; or as “unity of
a group or class that is based on commu-
nity of interests, objectives, and stan-
dards”; or as “mutual dependence.”
In the recently-published Compen-
dium of the Social Doctrine of the Church,
we discover a more profound description
of Solidarity from the tradition of the
Church.
(1) Meaning and value. Four dimen-
sions are highlighted in the concept of
solidarity: a) the intrinsic social nature of
the human person; b) the equality of all
persons in dignity and rights; c) the com-
mon path taken by individuals and peoples
towards an even more committed unity;
and d) the bond of interdependence be-
tween individuals
and peoples.
In this light,
solidarity would be
"Does the language of Human
opposed to indi-
vidualism, class
conflict, imperial-
Security then resonate with our af-
ism, isolationism as
well as any form of
dictatorship. It is
firmation of Solidarity in the so-
based on the dignity
of every person and cial teachings of the Church? "
of all persons in hu-
man society.
(2) Solidarity as a social principle
and a moral virtue. The relationships of
interdependence, particularly in a global-
ized world, impel us towards genuine ethi-
cal-social solidarity. As one of the key
principles for the social teachings of the
church, solidarity becomes the starting-
point for our conduct in society.
As a moral virtue, solidarity disposes
us to determine the order of institutions –
i.e., from “structures of sin” to structures
of solidarity. In this regard, it is helpful to
keep in mind how the Church (Catechism
of the Catholic Church) defines virtue in
the first place: “A virtue is a habitual and
firm disposition to do the good. It allows
the person not only to perform good acts,
but to give the best of himself. The virtu-
ous person tends toward the good with all
his sensory and spiritual powers; he pur-
sues the good and chooses it in concrete
actions. (italics supplied)”
It is in this light that Pope John Paul II
defines solidarity as a “firm and persever-
ing determination to commit oneself to
the common good. That is to say to the
44 IMPACT •• May
IMPACT May 2006
2006
good of all and of each individual, because
we are all really responsible for all.”
(Sollicitudo Rei Socialis).
(3) Solidarity as a Christian virtue.
Solidarity, as a recurring theme in the so-
cial teaching of the Church, has been ex-
pressed in various terms, such as “friend-
ship” by Pope Leo XIII, “social charity” by
Pope Pius XI, the process of “socializa-
tion” by Pope John XXIII, and “a civiliza-
tion of love” by Pope Paul VI. It also refers
to the “preferential option for the poor”
which Pope John Paul II defines as a “spe-
cial form of primacy in the exercise of
Christian charity.” In the Compendium,
solidarity takes on the lapidary phrase of
“solidary humanism.”
Thus, solidarity is closely linked to
charity with the distinctively Christian
dimensions of “total gratuity, forgiveness
and reconciliation”(Sollicitudo Rei
Socialis). It enables us to discern a new
model of unity of the human race – towards
“communion” which is the soul of the
Church’s vocation to be a “sacrament.”
Some witnesses of solidarity among
the saints, cited by Pope John Paul II, are
St. Peter Claver, the apostle of the Negro
slaves in Cartagena, and St. Maximilian
Kolbe who offered his life in exchange for
the life of a fellow prisoner in the concen-
tration camp in Auschwitz. We can also
mention Blessed Mother Teresa in her
work of charity among the poorest of the
poor in Calcutta. Their lives exemplify the
meaning of solidarity among fellow human
beings, as described by the late Holy Fa-
ther: “Solidarity helps us to see the “other”
– whether a person, people or nation – not
just as some kind of instrument, with a
work capacity and physical strength to be
exploited at low cost and then discarded
when no longer useful, but as our “neigh-
bor,” a “helper,” to be made a sharer, on a
par with ourselves, in the banquet of life to
which all are equally invited by God”
(Sollicitudo Rei Socialis).
(4) Solidarity in the life and message
A R T I
of Jesus Christ. The perfect exemplar of
solidarity is the person of Jesus of Nazareth,
who reveals man to man, and “is one with
humanity even to the point of ‘death on a
cross’ “(CSDC). Jesus reveals the tran-
scendent love of God-with-us (Emmanuel).
In his disdain for any form of social
discrimination and his special attention to
the outcasts of society, his acts of solidar-
ity shine forth with the Christ-modelled
charity of total generosity, forgiveness
and reconciliation. Ultimately, Jesus’ life
and death wrought redemption, restoring
a broken world in his love – a sign of grace,
life and hope for the countless poor, the
lame, the blind, the homeless, and the
unwanted in our society today, or what
Mahatma Ghandi has once described as
“the last, the least, and the lost.”
(5) Solidarity and the common growth
of mankind. As a dynamic principle, there
is an intimate connection between solidar-
ity and the com-
mon good, be-
tween solidarity
and the universal
destination
goods, and be-
tween solidarity
of
and peace. “The
process of devel-
opment and lib-
eration takes con-
crete shape in the
exercise of soli-
darity, that is to
say in the love and service of neighbor,
especially of the poorest,” notes Pope
John Paul II. (SRS).
Solidarity, on the one hand, recog-
nizes the space given to human freedom
for the exercise of social responsibility and
what the CBCP statement calls, “heroic
citizenship”(Renewing Our Public Life
Through Moral Values, CBCP Pastoral
Statement, 29 January 2006). On the other
hand, it reminds us that we are all debtors
of society of which we have become part
and that we all have a common obligation
to continue humanity’s journey towards
future generations – an allusion to pro-
mote human life and the integrity of cre-
ation.
It is in this context that Pope John Paul
II states that “the solidarity which we
propose is the path to peace and at the
same time to development.” He concludes
by transposing Pope Pius XII’s motto,
Opus justitiae pax (peace as the work/fruit
of justice) into his own saying, Opus
solidaritatis pax (peace as the fruit of
solidarity). (SRS).
C L E S
by Antonio J. Ledesma, S.J., D.D.
How then do we forge solidarity in our
world today? In one sense, the globe has
shrunk in terms of travel distance and real-
time communication. In another sense, the
world has become more diversified, frag-
mented, and endangered in terms of eco-
logical degradation and, what some have
called, a clash of cultures and civilizations.
Wars within and beyond national borders,
man-made and natural disasters, epidem-
ics, and threats of terrorism characterize
the beginning of the third millennium of
the Christian era. The world has indeed
become a better and safer place for many;
FROM
FROM
SOLIDARITY
SOLIDARITY
TO
TO HUMAN
HUMAN
SECURITY
but for many more, the experience has
been the opposite – as millions continue to
struggle with the stark realities of poverty,
disease, war, and insecurity.
It is in this context that the framework
of “Human Security” has been offered to
complement the earlier paradigms of state
security, promotion of human rights, and
human development. (Commission on
Human Security, Human Security Now,
2003).
(a) From state security to human
security. With the rise of nation-states in
the 17th century, the concept of state secu-
rity, based on national sovereignty, has
been the prevalent framework in interna-
tional relations. On the other hand, human
security focuses on the protection of indi-
viduals, households and local communi-
ties.
In confronting menaces to peace and
stability, state security is preoccupied with
protecting territorial boundaries, or pro-
tecting the existing government from in-
ternal threats, such as coups or rebellions.
On the other hand, human security con-
fronts broader and border-less menaces,
such as environmental pollution, the
Volume 40
Volume 40 •• Number
Number 55 55
 A R T I C L E S

spread of infectious diseases, and threats

of region-wide terrorism.
The protagonists for state security
are usually politicians and the military;
human security, on the other hand, in-
volves a wider range of actors, such as
civil society groups, non-government or-
ganizations, religious leaders, media, and
international agencies.
Ultimately, the overriding goal for
state security is to protect and preserve
the state; human security, on the other
hand, is people-centered and aims to pro-
tect and empower the people.
Table 1 contrasts these two security
frameworks. It would be instructive to re-
late these to current “threats” affecting
the country – such as the Asian bird-flu
epidemic, terrorist attacks against inno-
cent civilians, and the reported coup at-
tempt and Fort Bonifacio stand-off during
the 20th anniversary of the EDSA I People
Power revolution.
(b) Definition of human security.
While acknowledging the location–spe-
cific concerns of particular countries and
regions of the world, the Commission on
Human Security offers a definition of hu-
man security – i.e., “to protect the vital
core of human lives in ways that enhance
human freedoms and human fulfillment.”
It involves: protecting fundamental free-
doms – that are the essence of life; protect-
ing people from severe and widespread
threats; using processes that build on
people’s strengths and aspirations; creat-
ing systems (political, social, economic,
cultural, environmental, etc.) that help
people attain survival, livelihood and dig-
nity; including excluded minorities in the
development process; enabling individu-
als and communities to make informed
choices and to act on their own behalf; and
encompassing: freedom from want, free-
dom from fear, freedom from discrimina-
tion, and freedom of future generations to
inherit a healthy natural environment.
In summary, the Commission states:
“Human security complements state secu-
rity, enhances human rights and strength-
ens human development.” As pointed out
by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, it
joins “the main agenda items of peace,
security and development.”
(c) Basic freedoms for human secu-
rity. In a landmark study of the Human
Development Report 2000, the United
Nations Development Programme explored
the intimate linkage between “human rights
and human development – for freedom and
solidarity.” Seven fundamental freedoms
are outlined: (1) Freedom from discrimina-
tion – by gender, race, ethnicity, national
origin or religion; (2) Freedom from want –
to enjoy a decent standard of living; (3)
Freedom to develop and realize one’s hu-
man potential; (4) Freedom from fear – of
threats to personal security, from torture,
arbitrary arrest and other violent acts; (5)
Freedom from injustice and violations of
the rule of law; (6) Freedom of thought and
speech and to participate in decision-mak-
ing and form associations; and (7) Free-
dom for decent work – without exploita-
tion.
We can place these freedoms under
three general headings related to a Culture
of Life and Development; a Culture of
Human Rights and Democracy; and a Cul-
ture of Peace and Solidarity. These three
headings also approximate the economic,
political, and cultural dimensions of hu-
man freedoms. (Table 2)
Within a Human Security framework,
these three “cultures” reinforce each other
as nested paradigms, starting from the
basic economic needs of human life itself
and extending to political freedoms and
ultimately to cultural and spiritual values.
(Fig. 1) “People’s horizons,” notes the

6 IMPACT • May 2006

 From Solidarity to Human Security

Conference in interreligious dia-

logue; of numerous peace cen-
ters, particularly in the obser-
vance of the Mindanao Week of
Peace – these are all ongoing
efforts at building peace and hu-
man security on the island. The
Commission notes: “Human se-
curity in its broadest sense em-
braces far more than the absence
of violent conflict. It encom-
passes human rights, good gov-
ernance, access to education
and health care and ensuring
that each individual has oppor-
tunities and choices to fulfill his
Commission on Human Security, “extend care; Access to basic education for all; or her potential.” (Keynote Address,
far beyond survival to matters of love, Articulating common goals, while devel- Second National Assembly of the Philip-
culture and faith.” (Commission on Hu- oping multiple identities (inter-religious pine-Miserior Partnership, SEARSOLIN,
man Security). dialogue; culture of peace); Empowering Cagayan De Oro City, 16 March 2006).
(d) Human security following vio- communities for good governance (en- Does the language of Human Security
lent conflict. The Human Security para- gaged citizenship; social auditing; mean- then resonate with our affirmation of Soli-
digm was originally conceived to address ingful elections); Forging alliances among darity in the social teachings of the Church?
the inadequacy of the State Security frame- civil society groups, including churches, In the Philippine context, it seems there
work during periods of violent conflict. government agencies, and local communi- can be no solidarity without human secu-
Table 3 provides a matrix of key human ties. rity. But neither can there be human secu-
security clusters following violent con- The work of Tabang Mindanaw for rity without that deepened sense of soli-
flict. Under a state security perspective, relief and rehabilitation in Central darity that the Church’s tradition offers
only the first cluster on public safety would Mindano; of the BASULTA cluster of us. I
be addressed by a military force bent on local NGOs and international agencies in
victory in the battlefield. the development of the Basilan-Sulu- (Most Rev. Antonio Ledesma, S.J., Archbishop of
Cagayan de Oro, currently chairs the CBCP’s Episcopal
As was borne out in the aftermath of Tawi-Tawi area; of the Bishops-Ulama Commission on Inter-Religious Dialogue –Ed.)
the armed conflicts in Central
Mindanao in the years 2000
and 2003, the other clusters
such as humanitarian relief, re-
habilitation & reconstruction,
and reconciliation & coexist-
ence were left mostly to local
NGOs and international relief
agencies. Government’s role,
as indicated at the left margin
predominates under the clus-
ter of public safety, but dimin-
ishes in proportion to the
people’s own involvement in
the subsequent stages, par-
ticularly in the clusters on rec-
onciliation and governance &
empowerment.
(e) Advancing human se-
curity in Mindanao. As an
illustrative case, a human se-
curity agenda in Mindanao
would involve these various
components: Protecting
people in violent conflict (refu-
gees); Providing minimum liv-
ing standards (work-based
security; secure livelihoods;
access to land, credit, train-
ing); Access to basic health

Volume 40 • Number 5 7
 A R
Stewardship and Recognizing
Priorities
Resource Allocation as a Priority
I
t is easy to think that the problems and
challenges of the West are also the
same in the developing world, consid-
ering the fact that what happens in the
West in no time reaches the shores of the
developing world. Given the fact of glo-
balization, there is no longer any problem
in the West that is not known and felt in
some way in this poor side of the globe. Be
that as it may, the problems and challenges
in the developing world as already men-
tioned come in the particular context of
poverty. In this context, what seems more
challenging is not the threat and perils of
technological advance as it is the West
because they may not yet even be easily
available here, but
rather much more on
the task of recogniz-
ing and putting into
place priorities in the “…a just health care system will be con-
area of bioethics and
health care. What cerned both with promoting equity of
presses this idea to
come to the fore is the care — to assure that the right of each
revived interest
among moral theolo-
gians in the Principle
person to basic health care is respected
of Stewardship and its
particular application
— and with promoting the good health of
in bioethics and health
care. In this area, the
all in the community."
problem of resource al-
location and the issue
of preventive health care appear to be of
paramount priority and importance.
The problem of resource allocation, in
particular, is felt not only in the developing
world but in wealthy countries as well. In
a way, there is no country in the world
today that does not face resource alloca-
tion dilemmas. It is a fact that health care
resources have always been rationed for
one reason or another. But in affluent
nations, the issue is raised not so much in
the context of poverty or the application of
strict distributive justice but rather in re-
gard to patient selection based on criteria
other than simply economic. The chal-
lenge is how to make policy makers, legis-
lators and everyone involved in the whole
bioethical enterprise to recognize these
priorities especially in the developing
world. Invoking the ideas of stewardship
seems to be a step forward towards this
direction.
This development, of course, is rather
8 IMPACT • May 2006
T I C L E S
relatively new since in the past, steward-
ship was usually discussed almost exclu-
sively in the area of environmental and
social ethics, and also particularly in rela-
tion to the application of the Principle of
Distributive Justice. In bioethics and health
care, distributive justice has also become
an issue in many conflict situations, thereby
inevitably raising the question of steward-
ship. Moreover, there has also been a
growing emphasis on proportionality as a
criterion of distributive justice, a consider-
ation, which cannot be separated from the
issue of stewardship.
But how does the idea of stewardship
become the basis for establishing priori-
ties? Stewardship, in general, means the
protection, care and proper use of this
world’s resources. The idea of proper use,
however, also includes allocation and dis-
tribution, given the fact that resources are
limited especially in the area of health care.
Indeed, medical and health care resources
remain scarce in many parts of the world,
even in affluent countries. Thus, the ques-
tion is, how are they to be allocated, such
that they are made available where they are
needed in an equitable way. It is here
where considerations of distributive jus-
tice come in and inevitably inform, and
rightly so, the physician’s or health care
giver’s decisions about resource alloca-
tion. The principle of distributive justice
requires that life-enhancing opportunities
afforded by health care be equitably dis-
tributed. In fact, how to accomplish this
distribution has become the focus of dis-
agreement.
Furthermore, the environment for the
delivery of health care has become more
varied. Sites of care are shifting and man-
aged care continues to grow, yet health
care systems do not seem to serve all
citizens well. Major reform is definitely
needed especially in underdeveloped coun-
tries like the Philippines. It is, however,
unclear how this could be done so that
health care becomes available indeed in an
equitable way.
The point is that if ever people are
now paying attention to the question of
resource allocation in health care, this is
due to the growing awareness of the de-
mands of stewardship, distributive justice
and proportionality.
Christianity espouses stewardship
but it is not unique to it. In fact, the world’s
spiritual traditions maintain that an essen-
tial aspect of the human state is the prin-
ciple of stewardship of the created order.
This is the universal belief that human
beings are called by nature to nurture,
protect, use, order, and adorn the earth
and all living and nonliving creatures in
harmony with and obedience to the funda-
mental laws written into
the very nature of all
things. Thus, the stew-
ard is a manager, not an
owner. In an era of ris-
ing consciousness
about the physical en-
vironment, humans are
called to a sense of
moral responsibility for
the protection of the en-
vironment.
While steward-
ship understood in this
way means primarily
the preservation and
conservation of nature,
it does not in any way
preclude the creative transformation of
nature. In performing this task, however,
human beings must recognize that they
can only proceed within a certain limit and
that the resources with which they must
work are not necessarily inexhaustible.
Thus, stewardship is not a license for
doing anything for trying out anything
that is possible. Rather it entails more than
anything else, restraint and responsibility
in the use of this world’s resources. No
matter how human beings may progress in
science, freedom, and power, they dare
not abuse this responsibility and in the
process contradict their own human na-
ture without destroying themselves and
their environment.
The sad fact is that, in the exercise of
stewardship, human beings take it for
granted that the world’s resources are
slowly being depleted in the name of
progress and technology. Nature is not so
much creatively transformed as it is rather

By Leonardo Z. Legaspi, O.P., D.D.
relentlessly exploited. Above all, human
beings have failed to identify and under-
stand their authentic needs, and their po-
tentialities. Simply driven by the desire to
satisfy wants people have wantonly en-
gaged in research and experimentation
without taking into consideration the risks
and the evil consequences involved.
Indeed, there is abundant evidence
that the human presence on the earth cur-
rently disfigures the natural world. To
make matters worse, the “advantages” that
have been envisioned by such wanton
plunder of nature are confined to only a
few and do not really reach the majority
they are meant to benefit. There is clearly
here another issue, namely, how the equi-
table distribution of resources could be
realized.
(Last Part)
Bioethical
Challenges
in the New
Millennium
In the Catholic tradition, one concrete
way in which this might be accomplished
is through the application of the Principle
of Distributive Justice. As an ethical
principle, distributive justice refers to what
society or a larger group owes its indi-
vidual member in proportion to: first, the
individual’s needs, contribution and re-
sponsibility; second, the resources avail-
able to the society or organization; and
third, the society’s or organization’s re-
sponsibility to the common good. Under-
stood as such, the principle of distributive
justice implies that society has a duty to
the individual in serious need and that all
individuals have duties to others in seri-
ous need. In decisions regarding the allo-
cation of resources, such as rationing
decisions, the duty of society is not dimin-
ished because of the person’s status or
nature of illness. Everyone is entitled to
equal access to basic resources necessary
for living in a human way. In other words,
allocation decisions should not be based
upon judgments of the quality of persons.
Benefits and burdens should also be dis-
tributed in a just manner.
It is this idea that is now being in-
voked in the area of bio-ethics and health
care. In this context, distributive justice
requires that everyone receive equitable
access to basic health care necessary for
living a fully human life insofar as there is
a basic human right to health care. This
has to be explicitly stipulated especially
because there is hardly an abundance of
health care resources. In fact, managed
care can be seen as a means for rationing
Volume 40 • Number 5 9
 A R
health care as a strategy to use limited
resources more effectively and efficiently.
But the question is, how does one
ensure an equitable distribution or alloca-
tion of health care resources? What crite-
ria should be used? Moral theologians
have proposed the application of the Prin-
ciple of Proportionate and Dispropor-
tionate Means. According to this prin-
ciple resources must be used in proportion
to the health condition of the health care
beneficiary, to his own or his family’s
capacity to avail of such resources given
their cost, and to the good and needs of the
community as a whole or other health care
beneficiaries. The disproportionate use of
these resources is a violation of distribu-
tive justice and thus of proper steward-
ship as well.
The principle is particularly helpful in
the analysis of ethical questions arising
from the general obligation to preserve
human life and the limits of that obligation.
For instance, the principle addresses
whether the forgoing of life-sustaining
measures constitutes euthanasia in cer-
tain circumstances. It also guides indi-
viduals and surrogate decision-makers in
the weighing of benefits and burdens.
The distinction between proportion-
ate and disproportionate means is in itself
based on general criteria. A proportionate
means is any treatment that, in the judg-
ment of the patient and in the given circum-
stances, offers a reasonable hope of ben-
efit and does not entail an excessive bur-
den or impose excessive expense on the
patient, his family or the community. What
is a reasonable hope of benefit to the
patient should be judged within the con-
text of the whole person. Generally, a
treatment or means is not too burdensome
when it offers benefits that outweigh the
burdens to the patient and others.
A disproportionate means is any treat-
ment that, in the patient’s judgment and in
the given circumstances, offers no rea-
sonable hope of benefit to him, or entails
an excessive burden or impose excessive
expense on him, his family or the commu-
nity. In other words, the burdens or risks
are disproportionate to or outweigh the
expected benefits of the treatment.
The distinction between proportion-
ate and disproportionate means has been
equated with the distinction between or-
dinary and extraordinary means, a dis-
tinction used by the 1980 Vatican Declara-
tion on Euthanasia. According to this
document, one is not obliged to preserve
his/her own life by making use of extraor-
dinary means. In fact, one may forego with
10 IMPACT • May 2006
T I C L E S
its use and that any insistence on its
continued use constitutes a violation of
distributive justice and stewardship.
In any case, whatever treatment is
contemplated, its impact on the commu-
nity must be mentioned. And while the
patient is said to be the person who must
judge when the medical treatment becomes
excessive, such judgments are not consid-
ered purely subjective within the Catholic
tradition. In other words, the patient’s
decision must be based on an objective
assessment of the reality of things. And
even if a particular treatment were to hold
out “a reasonable hope of benefit”, the
patient could properly and morally decline
the treatment on the basis that it imposes
“excessive expense on…the community.”
If a patient can individually reach
such a decision, why cannot a community
of potential patients reach a similar deci-
sion, namely, that certain types of treat-
ment in certain circumstances excessively
burden the limited resources of the com-
munity and, as such, should not be avail-
able, even if they might offer some level of
benefit?
Here is where the values of dignity of
the individual, of the common good, and of
the care for the poor come in. The Ameri-
can Bishops could not have stated it more
clearly when they urged that,
“…a just health care system will
be concerned both with promoting
equity of care — to assure that the
right of each person to basic health
care is respected—and with promot-
ing the good health of all in the
© Ed Kashi /CORBIS.COM
community.”
The overall concern in this statement
is that there should be a determination to
promote and defend human dignity, en-
sure adequate health care for the poor and
underinsured, and exercise “responsible
stewardship” of health care resources.
It should be noted that respecting the
dignity of the individual does not mean
providing each person with every form of
treatment he or she might want. Rather, it
requires meeting the basic health care
needs of each individual. This does not
stand in opposition to the common good
for “the common good is realized when
economic, political and social conditions
ensure protection for the fundamental
rights of all individuals, and enable all to
fulfill their common purpose and reach
their common goals.” Thus, responsible
stewardship requires that we use our lim-
ited resources in a way that meets the basic
needs of individuals and raises the overall
health of the community. The poor pro-
vide the vantage point from which one
might judge how well this challenge is met.
Basic Preventive Health Care as a
Priority
The question of allocation as a re-
quirement of stewardship also arises in the
area of bioethical research and experimen-
tation. Much is being said these days
about experiments, for example, in repro-
ductive technology, genetic engineering
and human biotechnology. As already
mentioned, there is recently this ongoing
debate concerning experimentation involv-
 Bioethical Challenges in the New Millennium
ing the so-called embryonic stem cells.
All this discussion ultimately raises
the question as to whether it is justifiable
for science to spend too much resources
on such expensive experiments. As seen
in the foregoing discussions, tackling this
question inevitably raises the issue of the
morality of such experiments. But even if
one were to prescind from any consider-
ation of the morality of the procedures
involved, do these experiments or their
positive yield benefit the majority? While
some of the results of these experiments,
particularly in the area of reproductive
technology (e.g. in vitro fertilization and
artificial insemination) have already be-
come available, generally they remain still
too costly and unaffordable to most ordi-
nary citizens, mainly because they are poor,
or in wealthy countries, they are unin-
sured or underinsured for experimental
treatments.
Such being the case, these researches
and experiments do not seem to be an
exercise of stewardship. All the more does
this become glaringly true in poor coun-
tries like the Philippines, which can hardly
afford such expensive experiments. For
how can a poor country spend so much
public (or even private) funds on such
expensive undertakings without being able
to provide basic health care and medicine
to its citizens? Even in developed coun-
tries, the disproportion does not disap-
pear since these experiments remain to
cost high, yet yield very little benefit. It is
recommended then that stewardship might
better be exercised if the dominant health
care strategy is focused more on preven-
tion rather than on cure that is carried out
through expensive means. That indeed is
the challenge. Prevention of illness can
benefit more people and could be made
available in more proportionate means.
We are not proposing here a stop to re-
searches and medical advance. We only
want to suggest that if funds were to be
spent for these high tech experiments in-
tended to generate high cost therapies, a
corresponding proportionate amount
should also be spent for providing basic
health care, mainly through prevention of
disease. Thus, while we do legitimate
research, we should not forget to initiate
“the kind of interventions that would be
beneficial for all citizens and not just for
the wealthy.”
CONCLUSION
The challenges that we face in bioet-
hics today in a way depends on where we
are, and generally in wealthy and industri- have to do with the sacredness of human
alized societies, the challenges revolve life and the dignity of the human person.
around the use of technology and its im- Ultimately, in any bioethical decision, it is
plications and consequences to human these moral values which are at stake.
behavior. Here, bioethics and health care Only when these values are protected,
are distinguished by an extraordinary reli- ensured and safeguarded, can one truly
ance on technology. The trend is to have say that a given course of action is morally
control over nature through the use of legitimate. Progress in bioethics cannot
technology. This trend is certainly creat- just be pursued even to the point of dep-
ing new opportunities for human life. Tech- ersonalization. There must be a larger
nology, for instance, can now aid diagno- concern for the dignity of the human per-
sis and treatment with much efficiency. son. Technology, in particular, must be
This, however, has also given us the false made subject to the total good of the
courage and conviction that we can over- person rather than making the person sub-
come every problem, conquer every dis- ject to its power. If technology can lead to
ease and control every contingency if we depersonalization, poverty also dehuman-
work at it long enough and develop the izes. It is equally degrading as it also
right techniques and instruments. This violates human dignity. Thus, efforts must
passion for progress, mastery and control be made to create a just environment that
through technological achievement makes makes health care available not only to the
us somehow oblivious of our limits and rich but most especially to the poor.
makes us vulnerable to the tyranny of Bioethical challenges such as these,
technological domination. indeed, invite creativity, ingenuity and
Just having medical technology resourcefulness that bring out the best in
around creates a mindset that technolo- humanity but they also call for moral re-
gies that can be developed ought to be sponsibility and accountability. If chal-
lenges are tasks, they are only meant to
developed; and if we have it, we ought to
ensure that the sacredness of human life
use it even if its use may create more harm
and the dignity of the human person are
than benefits. The availability of technol-
guaranteed. I
ogy has raised questions about its appro-
priate use. In a society that is captivated Most Rev. Leonardo Z. Leagaspi,OP, Archbishop of
Caceres, used to be the Chairman of the CBCP
by science and its awesome results and Office on Bioethics. This article is lifted with permission
efficiency, we can easily lose sight of the from his book Light to All
overall purpose to be served by
technology, that is, in service of
the total good of the human per-
son. The temptation to be domi-
nated by technological advance
stands in opposition to the unrec-
ognized wisdom that not every-
thing that can be done ought to be
done.
The picture changes in the
developing world. Here, the chal-
lenge is not so much the appropri-
ate use of technology because this
is still scarcely available here.
Rather, it is the perennial issue of
poverty which not only deprives
people of the advantages of tech-
nology but even of basic and pre-
ventive health care. What makes
the situation worse is that not only
are resources scarce, they are also
inequitably distributed as they are
usually available only to the rich,
thus the challenge of resource al-
I
location and distribution.
© Michael A. Keller/Corbis
Challenges are meant to lead
us to action. They call for deci-
sions and rightly so because in the
area of bioethics, these challenges
Volume 40 • Number 5 11
 The Tausugs in
100
years ago today some
900 men, women and
children died in defense
of their homeland in Bud Dajo, Sulu. They did
not wish to submit to American rule by
paying taxes or surrendering their weapons.
The Americans had taken over the
Philippines by virtue of the Treaty of Paris
where the whole archipelago was suppos-
edly transferred from Spanish sovereignty
to American sovereignty in consideration
of $20 million. The Moros of Sulu refused
to recognize American sovereignty over
their island. Neither did the other Moro
tribes in Mindanao.
Opt Out
In fact, they wanted to opt out of the
Philippine territory under the US by claim-
ing that Spain was not able to exercise
effective governance over them.
But the Americans refused to grant
them their wish. They were called savages.
And as such, they were not entitled to be
heard by the civilized nations of the world.
Neither were they entitled to the protection
of the so-called civilized conduct of war
waged by the Americans in their homelands.
Thus, in 1906, American troops were
deployed in Sulu by order of Gen. Leonard
Wood. They were ordered to pacify the
savages there.
© Paul Almasy / CORBIS.COM
12 IMPACT • May 2006
Bud Dajo Did Not
Duncan implements
The order was implemented by Colo-
nel J. W. Duncan and his men on March 5,
1906.
According to the author, Vic Hurley,
who wrote the book, Swish of the Kris,
some 1,000 Moro rebels fortified the top of
Bud Dajo, a lava cone of an extinct volcano
that has an altitude of 2,100 feet. The crater
at the summit is 1,800 yards in circumfer-
ence and is flanked with rocky promonto-
ries which made the approach of troops
difficult. One thousand Moros took their
stand on the top of this mountain, six miles
from Jolo. Hurley detailed the battle for
Bud Dajo in this wise:
Colonel Duncan commanded the
attack, supported by Majors Bundy,
Wilcox and Ewing. Detachments were
commanded by Captains Atkinson,
Rivers, Koehler, Chitty, Farmer,
Bolles and Ryther. Thirty-one under-
officers from all branches of the ser-
vice led the enlisted men.
The assault units at Bud Dajo
were composed of 272 men of the 6th
Infantry, 211 men of the 4th Calvary,
68 men of the 28th Artillery Battery,
51 Sulu Constabulary, 110 men of
the 19th Infantry and 6 sailors from
the gunboat Pampanga. A total num-
ber of 790 men and officers were
engaged.
The battle began
on March 5. Moun-
tain guns were
hauled into position
and forty rounds of
shrapnel were fired
into the crater to
warn the Moros to
remove their women
and children.
At daylight on
the morning of
March 6, American
troops formed into
three columns and
began the march up
the mountainside.
The crest was ap-
proachable by three
narrow trails and the
advance began from
three sides with de-
tachments under the
command of Major
Bundy, Captain Riv-
ers and Captain
Lawton.
The rebel posi-
tion was shelled
thoroughly with rifle
Die in Vain
grenades and then taken by assault
with bayonets. The Moros staged a
terrific resistance.
Finding themselves in danger of
being captured, they left the shelter
of the barricade and sallied into the
open with kris and spear. The fight-
ing did not cease until the last Moro
fell. Two hundred Mohammedans
died here before the quick-firing guns
and rifles of the attackers. The 6th
Infantry suffered heavily, all of the
casualties occurring in the last ter-
rible rush of the krismen. Captain
White was severely wounded in the
knee and in the right shoulder while
leading the charge that cleared the
walls of the last of the Moros.
On the other side of the mountain,
Captain Rivers encountered a simi-
lar obstruction, and after several
hours of hard fighting he crumbled
the walls by storm. Rivers was also
seriously wounded by the last rush of
a desperate amuck Moro.
The third column of attackers,
under Captain Lawton, had mean-
while advanced along a bad trail,
continually harassed by the Moros,
who hurled huge stones down upon
the troops. The hill was so steep that
in many places the attackers were
forced to crawl on their hands and
knees. At regular intervals, they were
rushed by krismen.
Lawton’s column eventually suc-
ceeded in reaching the summit, where
they took the trenches on the edge of
the crater by assault. The Moros re-
treated into the crater and continued
the resistance until night brought
the fighting to a close.
During the night, the artillery
was shifted to command the crater.
The soldiers worked most of the night
hauling the heavy guns up the
mountainside. A few hours before
dawn, the weary soldiers dropped
into their blankets under a triple
guard, and went to sleep to the ac-
companiment of the shouts of the mad-
dened Moros in the crater.
At daylight the assault was re-
sumed. The American troops held their
position while the artillery poured a
murderous barrage into the crater.
The Mohammedans, armed princi-
pally with spear and kris, had no
answer to this long range bombard-
ment, but they held their position
stubbornly and refused to surrender.
In the face of that terrific fire, the
Moros had not a chance for life. A few
of the more desperate scrambled over
the crater edge, kris in hand, to charge
 A R T I C L E S

the American
trenches. They fell,
riddled with bullets,
before they covered
half of the distance.
After the heavy
bombardment had
accomplished its
purpose, the Ameri-
can troops charged
the crater with fixed
bayonets. The few
Moros left alive
made hand gre-
nades from sea
shells filled with
black powder and
fought desperately
to stem the charge.
But the straggling
krismen were no
match for the tide of
bayonets that over-
whelmed them and
hardly a man sur-
vived that last
bloody assault.
After the en-
gagement the cra-
ter was a shambles.
Moros were piled
five deep in the
trenches where they © Dennis M. Sabangan / epa / Corbis.com

had been mowed

down by the artillery and rifle fire.

The Tausugs in
The American attack had been sup-
ported by two quick-firing guns from
the gunboat Pampanga and exami-
nation of the dead showed that many
of the Moros had as many as fifty

Bud Dajo did not

wounds. Of the 1,000 Moros who
opened the battle two days previ-
ously, only six men escaped the car-
nage.
Looking back twenty-eight years

Die in Vain
to the battle Bud Dajo, an impartial
historical observer is struck by the
fact that America did not cover her-
self with glory in this encounter. Per-
haps it would be sufficient to remark
that severe criticism was directed
from the United States upon the mili-
tary authorities ordering this slaugh-
ter. By Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr.
By no stretch of the imagination
could Bud Dajo be termed a “battle.” and seventy-five wounded! The casu- tion for the intensity of the bombard-
Certainly the engaging of 1,000 alty lists reflect the unequal nature of ment at Bud Dajo, and many Ameri-
Moros armed with krises, spears and the battle. cans who witnessed the battle con-
a few rifles by a force of 800 Ameri- The Moros had broken the law cur in this belief.
cans armed with every modern and some punishment was necessary In fairness to the American forces
weapon was not a matter for public- if America was to maintain her pres- it must be said, however, that the
ity. The American troops stormed a tige in the East, but opinion is over- situation was such that no compro-
high mountain peak crowned by for- whelming in the belief that there was mise short of battle was possible. Had
tifications to kill 1,000 Moros with a unnecessary bloodshed at Bud Dajo.
loss to themselves of twenty-one killed There appears to be no justifica- The Tausugs / p. 22

Volume 40 • Number 5 13
 M E
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I
n the wake of the fortieth-anniversary
of the closing of the Second Vatican
Ecumenical Council, I am happy to re-
call its Decree on the Means of Social
Communication, Inter Mirifica, which in
particular recognized the power of the media
to influence the whole of human society.
The need to harness that power for the
benefit of all mankind has prompted me, in
this my first message for World Communi-
cations Day, to reflect briefly on the idea
of the media as a network facilitating com-
munication, communion, and cooperation.
Saint Paul, in his letter to the
Ephesians, vividly depicts our human
vocation to be “sharers in the divine na-
ture” (Dei Verbum, 2): through Christ we
have access in one Spirit to the Father; so
we are no longer strangers and aliens but
citizens with the saints and members of the
household of God, growing into a holy
temple, a dwelling place for God (cf. Eph
2:18-22). This sublime portrayal of a life of
communion engages all aspects of our
lives as Christians. The call to be true to the
self-communication of God in Christ is in
fact a call to recognize his dynamic force
© Roy Lagarde / IMPACT
14 IMPACT • May 2006
S S A G
within us, which then seeks to spread
outwards to others, so that his love can
truly become the prevalent measure of the
world (cf. Homily for World Youth Day,
Cologne, 21 August 2005).
Technological advances in the media
have in certain respects conquered time
and space, making communication between
people, even when separated by vast dis-
tances, both instantaneous and direct.
This development presents an enormous
potential for service of the common good
and “constitutes a patrimony to safeguard
and promote” (Rapid Development, 10).
Yet, as we all know, our world is far from
perfect. Daily we are reminded that imme-
diacy of communication does not neces-
sarily translate into the building of coop-
eration and communion in society.
To inform the consciences of indi-
viduals and help shape their thinking is
never a neutral task. Authentic communi-
cation demands principled courage and
resolve. It requires a determination of those
working in the media not to wilt under the
weight of so much information nor even to
be content with partial or provisional truths.
Instead it necessitates both seeking and
E
transmitting what is the ultimate founda-
tion and meaning of human, personal and
social existence (cf. Fides et Ratio, 5). In
this way the media can contribute con-
structively to the propagation of all that is
good and true.
The call for today’s media to be re-
sponsible—to be the protagonist of truth
and promoter of the peace that ensues—
carries with it a number of challenges.
While the various instruments of social
communication facilitate the exchange of
information, ideas, and mutual understand-
ing among groups, they are also tainted by
ambiguity. Alongside the provision of a
“great round table” for dialogue, certain
tendencies within the media engender a
kind of monoculture that dims creative
genius, deflates the subtlety of complex
thought and undervalues the specificity
of cultural practices and the particularity
of religious belief. These are distortions
that occur when the media industry be-
comes self-serving or solely profit-driven,
losing the sense of accountability to the
common good.
Accurate reporting of events, full ex-
planation of matters of public concern,
and fair representation of
diverse points of view must,
then, always be fostered.
The need to uphold and
support marriage and fam-
ily life is of particular im-
portance, precisely be-
cause it pertains to the foun-
dation of every culture and
society (cf. Apostolicam
Actuositatem, 11). In co-
operation with parents, the
social communications and
entertainment industries
can assist in the difficult
but sublimely satisfying
vocation of bringing up
children, through present-
ing edifying models of hu-
man life and love (cf. Inter
Mirifica, 11). How disheart-
ening and destructive it is
to us all when the opposite
occurs. Do not our hearts
cry out, most especially,
when our young people are
subjected to debased or
false expressions of love
which ridicule the God-
given dignity of every hu-
man person and undermine
family interests?
To encourage both a
constructive presence and
MESSAGE OF THE HOLY
FATHER BENEDICT XVI FOR
THE 40th WORLD
COMMUNICATIONS DAY
“The Media: A Network for
Communication, Communion
and Cooperation”
a positive perception of the media in soci-
ety, I wish to reiterate the importance of
three steps, identified by my venerable
predecessor Pope John Paul II, necessary
for their service of the common good:
formation, participation, and dialogue (cf.
Rapid Development, 11).
Formation in the responsible and criti-
cal use of the media helps people to use
them intelligently and appropriately. The
profound impact upon the mind of new
vocabulary and of images, which the elec-
tronic media in particular so easily intro-
duce into society, cannot be overesti-
mated. Precisely because contemporary
media shape popular culture, they them-
selves must overcome any temptation to
manipulate, especially the young, and in-
stead pursue the desire to form and serve.
In this way they protect rather than erode
the fabric of a civil society worthy of the
human person.
Participation in the mass media arises
from their nature as a good destined for all
people. As a public service, social commu-
nication requires a spirit of cooperation
and co-responsibility with vigorous ac-
countability of the use of public resources
and the perfor-
mance of roles
of public trust
(cf. Ethics in
Communica-
tions, 20), in-
cluding re-
course to regu-
latory stan-
dards and other © Osservatore Romano / CORBIS
measures or
structures designed to effect this goal. open to others especially the neediest and
Finally, the promotion of dialogue the weakest members of society (cf.
through the exchange of learning, the ex- Redemptor Hominis, 15; Ethics in Com-
pression of solidarity and the espousal of munications, 4).
peace presents a great opportunity for the In conclusion, I return to the encour-
mass media which must be recognized and aging words of Saint Paul: Christ is our
exercised. In this way they become influ- peace. In him we are one (cf. Eph 2:14). Let
ential and appreciated resources for build- us together break down the dividing walls
ing the civilization of love for which all of hostility and build up the communion of
peoples yearn. love according to the designs of the Cre-
I am confident that serious efforts to ator made known through his Son!
promote these three steps will assist the
media to develop soundly as a network of From the Vatican, 24 January 2006, the
communication, communion and coopera- Feast of Saint Francis de Sales.
tion, helping men, women and children, to
become more aware of the dignity of the BENEDICTUS XVI
human person, more responsible, and more May 28, 2006
Volume 40 • Number 5 15
 The Scourge
of Rice Cartel
Has
NFA
Failed?
By BOB ACEBEDO
N
o, there ain’t any shortage of rice at
all—let alone the growling stom-
achs of the growing number of
Filipinos going hungry. On cursory blush,
market stalls are indeed awashed with
bountiful rice—albeit glaringly more of
the imported kind than of those locally
produced, and conspicuously far more of
the purportedly classier type (or so, in
price especially) tagged as “commercial”
than of those as NFA (National Food Au-
thority) rice. Seemingly so, all is well with
the country’s staple commodity.
And the country’s principal food
16 IMPACT • May 2006
agency rushes head on to confirm this. In
its 2005 yearend report, the food agency
flaunted that it has fulfilled its mandate of
food security and stabilization. NFA ad-
ministrator Gregorio Tan Jr., according to
the February 15, 2006 issue of NFA Up-
date, the food agency’s bi-weekly publi-
cation, revealed that for 2005, NFA distrib-
uted a total 1,258,552 metric tons (MT) of
rice through its various accredited rice
outlets nationwide, and has accredited
28,789 rice outlets such as Tindahan ni
Pangulong Gloria (TPG), Bigasan ni Gloria
sa Palengke (BGP) and individual retailers
© Roy Lagarde / IMPACT
and rolling stores. Moreover, for the year,
the NFA procured a total of 83,160 MT of
palay while total import arrivals reached
1,780,716 MT, including 100,000 MT of
“iron fortified” rice.
Again, all is fine, stable or secure with
the country’s staple food? Maybe so. But
highly informed observers and critics can-
not be more skeptical about the food
agency’s flaunted yearend figures. No
denying though that rice stalls, both com-
mercial and government-dispensed are
indeed filled to the brim, but such touted
NFA figures as 1.2 million metric tons

distributed rice or 1.7 million metric tons of
rice import arrivals may not hastily be
taken to have addressed the issues of food
security, stability, affordability—and, im-
portantly, equitability.
Far from it. For Alfonso (not his real
name), a high-ranking NFA employee,
there’s more than meets the eye. “Oo nga,
marami tayong bigas sa mga tindahan at
palengke, lalo na ang commercial rice.
Pero, sa totoo lang, halos lahat ng mga
commercial rice na yan ay NFA rice. Ini-
import yan ng NFA at dahil sa cartel at
iba pang pamamaraan, naibebenta ang
mga yan as commercial rice ng mga
negosyante at distributors. Ang pinag-
iba lang ng mga yan ay sako, at siyempre,
presyo. Para bang, ang NFA ay nag-
iimport ng bigas hindi upang sana ay
mapakinabangan ng mahihirap sa
mababang halaga, kundi para sa mga
negosyante para kumita (Yes, we have an
abundance of rice in the stores and mar-
kets, especially commercial rice. But, truth
to tell, almost all of this commercial rice
being sold are actually NFA rice. They
were imported by NFA, but because of
cartel and other irregular practices, they
are being sold as commercial rice by local
businessmen and distributors. What
makes it different from NFA rice is the sack,
and of course, the price. It is as if the NFA
imports rice, not in order to be sold to the
poor at a lower price, but for the local
businessmen and distributors to earn).”
Stunning. Alfonso’s revelation—
his already over thirty years, and still
counting, employment stint at NFA be-
speaks equally of his credibility—osten-
sibly casts doubt on the food agency’s
flaunted accomplishment in food secu-
rity and stabilization. More formidably
instead—save the current fact about
rice’s sufficiency or availability—
Alfonso’s striking disclosure slugs it out
even more to uncover the chronic woes
and ills that have since long dogged or
crippled the government’s principal food
agency or the country’s ailing rice pro-
gram: the ever declining domestic pro-
duction (of rice) due to poor, if unad-
dressed, irrigation system; farmers are
plagued with capitalization woes, minus-
cule income, and rising cost of produc-
tion requirements and inputs, aside from
being helplessly tied up to lender-traders
or loan sharks; the rising retail price of
rice that threatens its affordability; the
uncurtailed cartel, and smuggling as well,
of rice controlled by traders and big busi-
ness; and the unequitable rice tariff impo-
sition.
COVER STORY
But, how and why NFA has been
created?
The nationalization of the country’s
food and rice program, according to former
NFA administrator Emil Ong, dates back to
the time of Philippine President Carlos
Garcia when aliens were since prohibited
to engage in rice business, being a political
commodity, and thus paved the need to
create an office to supervise rice distribu-
tion and put up facilities for rice stabiliza-
tion program. The precursor agencies of
NFA were the National Rice and Corn
Corporation (NARIC), the Rice and Corn
Authority (RCA), and National Grains
Authority (NGA). In 1980, under then
President Marcos, the NFA (so called as it
included the supervisory operations of
then president Marcos’ Food Terminal or
FTI and Kadiwa programs) was created
endowed with its mandate of providing
food security and stabilization, particu-
larly rice and corn, and ensure their “sus-
tainable availability” and “affordability”
especially by the common people or poor
populace.
Curiously, has NFA successfully lived
up to this mandate?
Rice Planting No More
No. More likely than not, NFA has
poorly fared in its mandate of providing
“sustainable availability” of rice—if only
indeed guaranteed sustainability of sup-
ply should be sourced or derived from
domestic or local production which, unde-
niably, has been seen declining through
the years and is undoubtedly far inad-
equate or below the country’s consump-
tion requirement. As such, Alfonso claims,
NFA has been drawing its procurement far
more largely from foreign source or impor-
tation rather than from local producers.
This was evidently indicated by NFA’s
2005 yearend report: a local procurement
of 83,160 MT of palay as compared to the
1,780,716 MT of rice import arrivals.
There’s no denying indeed that whilst
in the past the Philippines—irrefutably
being an agricultural country with a land
area of 30 million hectares, 47% of which is
agricultural land, and where, according to
the Department of Agriculture’s estimate,
the average area utilized by rice is 3.31
million hectares—used to be a rice export-
ing country. Whereas in 1970—according
to a study released in June 2004 by Eliseo
Ponce and Cristina David, “Agriculture
Comparative Advantage Ranking Among
five ASEAN Countries” (Thailand, Philip-
pines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indone-
sia)—the Philippines ranked second, but
in 2000 it ranked last. Whereas the
country’s premier International Rice Re-
search Institute at the University of the
Philippines-Los Baños (Laguna) has un-
deniably nurtured or provided technologi-
cal expertise to not just a few agriculture or
rice technocrats of other Asian countries,
now the Philippines depends largely on
the rice exports of these same countries,
particularly Vietnam which currently is the
biggest exporter to the Philippines.
Gleaned on hindsight, indubitably,
rice production in the country has drasti-
cally deteriorated—for more reasons than
one.
Alfonso, the highly informed source
from NFA, in an exclusive interview with
Impact, cannot be less reluctant in point-
ing out the first reason: farmers have al-
ready since long dropped their sickles and
plows for good. “Wala na. Hindi na sila
ginaganahang magtanim at kulang pa
ang kita nila sa pambayad kay kabisi.
Sabi nila, sila’y hindi na magsasaka kundi
magsasako na lamang. (Nothing more.
They’ve lost interest in farming as their
meager income is not even enough to pay
kabisi or the lender-traders. They quip
they’re not rice farmers anymore, but rice
baggers.),” Alfonso said.
Right. The farmers in no way deserve
any blame for having given up farming.
Chronic problems—as exorbitant payment
interest rates on borrowed production
capital charged by cartel lender-traders
and middlemen, rising cost of production
requirements and inputs, and the minus-
cule income yet siphoned to lender-trad-
ers and loan sharks—have since long de-
bilitated the farmers’ plight, if not have
long broken their proverbial straw for farm-
ing.
According to the 2002 research study,
Database Research for PhilNet-RDI’s
Pakyawan Center Project, conducted by
this writer to some 300 farmer-respondents
in the provinces of Pampanga, Pangasinan,
and La Union, it was found that a signifi-
cant 71% of farmers borrow their produc-
tion capitalization from lending rice trad-
ers and middlemen under such prevailing
payment terms of 1 cavan of palay for
every P 1,000.00 borrowed. The same
study also revealed that the production
cost estimate as of 2002 for 1 hectare crop-
ping of palay for 1 production period,
which included, among others—require-
ments and inputs for land preparation,
rental for tilling equipment, seedlings,
herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, planting,
Volume 40 • Number 5 17
 T h
threshing, as well as loading and trans-
porting—already amounted to P 23,685.00,
precluding yet the farmer-producer’s or
his household members’ labor and the
food for hired farm workers. Moreover, the
study likewise indicated that the meager
estimated net production income per hect-
are of P 21,315.00, as of 2002, for 1 produc-
tion period (or five months) was obviously
small enough just to cover the payment of
exorbitant interest rates exacted by lender-
traders for borrowed capitalization.
Another formidable reason that pre-
cipitated the unabated decline of the do-
mestic or local production of rice—let
alone, of course, the intermittent typhoons
and other natural calamities—is irrigation.
With the country’s ailing, and
unrehabilitated, irrigation system, former
NFA administrator Emil Ong laments the
fact that it has not been given any priority
by all the administrations unlike in other
Asian countries. “It’s really a tragedy
until now that the government is not giv-
ing priority on the irrigation program—for,
if only it did, I think we would have been
better off than other Asian countries be-
cause our land is much more fertile. China
and Thailand are 100% irrigated. But with
us, we cannot even reach 30% irrigating
our arable land. Definitely an irrigated land
can produce more yield – 80 to 100 cavans
per hectare and twice a year production
croppings – than an unirrigated one which
only waits for the rain to come and pro-
duces only 20 to 40 cavans per hectare and
with only once a year production crop-
© davaonorte.gov.ph
18 IMPACT • May 2006
e S c o
ping.”
Based on current data from the Na-
tional Irrigation Administration (NIA), of
the total 3.126 million hectares riceland
nationwide, only 1.402 million hectares
have functioning irrigation systems and
all others have either defective irrigation
systems or rely primarily on rainwater for
rice planting activities.
More Cartel and NFA’s Travel
Junkets
Fairly proven so. The drastic decline
of domestic production of rice has all but
failed to provide “sustainable availabil-
ity” of rice or food security, supposedly
NFA’s principal mandate. But has NFA
failed likewise to fulfill its other mandate of
ensuring affordability of rice, especially
for the poor Filipino populace? Has the
country’s principal food agency lived up
to its task of protecting the interests of
both farmers and consumers?
Granted. Yes, NFA has indeed fairly
regulated, if not stabilized, the retail price
of rice in the market. NFA’s 2005 yearend
report, for instance, indicated that “NFA’s
active market intervention stabilized prices
of commercial rice at P 22.99/kg. for well-
milled rice (WMR) and P 20.73/kg. for
regular-milled rice (RMR).”
But former NFA administrator Emil
Ong claims that such retail prices are al-
ready far up by 100% compared to its
erstwhile figures ten years ago, unlike
Taiwan which has maintained the same
u r g e o
price level through the years. “When I
entered NFA, the price of rice was P 5.00/
kg. In Taiwan, the price of rice in 1987 was
1 yuan/kg., where which 1 yuan was then
equivalent to P 5.00. This year, Taiwan has
still maintained its price at 1 yuan/kg.,
while 1 yuan is now equivalent to P 8.00.
Therefore, if we say we have successfully
stabilized the price of our rice, then it
would have been now only at P 8.00/kg and
not P 20.00 or more. Well, far different from
us, in Taiwan rice is subsidized by the
government.”
But, more than just relatively stabiliz-
ing the retail price of rice, NFA insider
Alfonso all the more claims that NFA has
failed the greater test of equitability—
both in the local procurement of palay and
in the equitable distribution of rice—and
quickly blames the age-long uncurtailed
cartel trading of palay and rice in the coun-
try by big business, reportedly spear-
headed by the powerful “Binondo Group”
composed of rich and influential Filipino-
Chinese businessmen. Alfonso bluntly
revealed that NFA, far from abetting or
curtailing the notorious cartel trade, has
even more succumbed to the murky tricks
of the trade as to become obliging lackeys
or dummies in the misallocation, diversion
or “close-to-smuggling” of NFA rice im-
ports to commercial traders and distribu-
tors.
“The cartel of palay and rice in the
Philippines has never been stopped. It
operates like a ‘pyramiding’ scheme. The
Binondo Group is very powerful, it’s very
much alive. They wield their influence
everywhere—among lender-traders in farm
sites, among NFA’s accredited retailers,
among NFA officials, and even among top
government officials. It’s really a big thing,”
revealed Alfonso.
Right. Far from being eradicated, the
stinky cartel of rice (and palay) is a big
thing. According to Alfonso, NFA wit-
tingly acquiesce to the pathetic cartel trade,
marked all throughout with corruption, in
three prominent forms: (1) in farm sites,
controlling or commanding both the pro-
curement and price of palay; (2)
misallocating and diverting NFA’s sup-
posedly regulated distribution of imported
rice from NFA to commercial outlets; and
(3) anomalous bidding of NFA’s volume-
stocks of rice imports to private business-
men who convert the same into commer-
cial selling.
First, in farm sites. Long it has been
established that farmers in farm sites have
since long been preyed by traders and
middlemen who control or command the
f R i c e C a r t e l
© Denz Dayao / IMPACT

farmer’s selling price of

palay. Lending money
or capitalization to farm-
ers to cover the produc-
tion cost has always
been a sure bait to guar-
antee the lender-trad-
ers' bagging the
farmer’s yield being
sold at low price and at
the same time exacting
usurious interest pay-
ment rates from the
farmer. This has been
and still currently the
modus operandi of trad-
ers and middlemen as
evidenced by this
writer’s 2002 research
study which revealed
that a high 71% of farm-
ers borrow their produc-
tion capitalization from
traders and middlemen
(mostly Filipino-Chi-
nese) in farm sites—
contrary thus to former
NFA administrator Emil
Ong’s claim that Fili-
pino-Chinese traders
have stopped lending
to farmers when NFA was established in tion). Legally wise, yes, the transaction is allocations. If, for example, these 10 ac-
1980. And these traders and middlemen in legal. But in reality, it defeats the purpose credited retailers are receiving 50 sacks a
farm sites do not work independently. of NFA of helping or protecting both the week, then there would be a total of 500
Alfonso disclosed that as the cartel trade farmer and the consumer,” Alfonso sacks a week allocated. Now, out of this
operates like a ‘pyramiding’ scheme, the snapped. 500 sacks, only 100 are sold by the accred-
big “Binondo Group” readily provides Second, NFA rice allocations are di- ited retailers at P 18.00/kg. while the 400
capitalization to these traders and middle- verted. It’s a given fact, much of NFA’s sacks go to the private capitalist or busi-
men in farm sites. rice resource are imported. But its price, nessman who will simply replace the sacks
But with the NFA’s procurement pro- rice being a political commodity, has to be with commercially tagged ones and,
gram of buying palay from the farmer at a regulated or controlled. This explains why puwesto!, the 400 sacks of rice are then
higher price, traders and middlemen in the market, the retail price of NFA rice (at sold commercially at P 26.00/kg. ‘Ika nga
squirmed at the threat of losing out from P 18.00/kg.) is lower than those classified (so to speak), it’s the same rice with a
the thriving palay cartel. Still, this did not as commercial rice which ranges from P different sack, but the price is not right.”
however hinder them from capturing the 22.00 to P 29.00. To ensure an equitable No wonder, this resonates thus with
farmer’s yield. Training their sight on distribution of NFA’s lower priced im- Alfonso’s earlier stunning revelation that
NFA, they unscrupulously connived with ported rice, the food agency allocates on almost all the commercial rice that are sold
‘enterprising’ employees of the food a weekly basis a regulated number of bags in the market stalls are actually NFA rice.
agency, particularly those assigned at NFA or sacks—say, 50 sacks per outlet every “Sa tingin do dyan, sa 100 na nagbebenta
buying stations, to contrive NFA’s week—to its NFA-accredited retailers clas- ay 20% lang ang nagbebenta ng totoong
pseudo-procurement of palay from the sified, namely, as: (1) exclusive NFA retail- commercial rice. And 80% ay pawang
farmer: the food agency, not the private ers or the Tindahan ni Pangulong Gloria NFA rice (The way I see it, out of 100
trader, surreptitiously purchases – only (TPG); (2) inside market retailers or the retailers only 20% are selling real commer-
on “paper”, or “legally,” so to speak – the Bigasan ni Gloria sa Palengke (BGP); and cial rice, while the 80% are all NFA rice).”
palay from the farmer, but the goods or (3) outside market retailers. Alfonso continues to lament,
palay are but delivered to the private trader How is the rot perpetrated? Alfonso “Nakikinabang ba ang taong bayan
for commercial selling. That completes the unhesitatingly explains: “This is how it dyan? Hindi. Pero yan ay ginastusan ng
transaction. works. An individual capitalist or busi- gobyerno sa importasyon. Ang retailers
Do NFA top officials at its central nessman – of course, his roots likely trace- kasi ay meron silang mga sariling asso-
office know about this? “Alam na alam able to the big Binondo Group – uses as ciations at ang kanilang mga officers ay
yan ng mga taga-opisina (the central of- dummies, say 10, existing NFA accredited may mga special privileges. Kaya nira-
fice knows very well about such transac- retailers who are regularly receiving weekly ride-on din yan ng opisina. Ang masaklap

Volume 40 • Number 5 19
 C O V E R
pa, meron nga dyan mga nakakapagpa-
accredit as retailers na kahit wala ni
isang outlet. (Do people benefit from this?
No. Yet the government has already spent
for its importation. Retailers have their
own associations and their officers have
special privileges. That’s why the NFA
office tolerates such. Worse yet, there are
retailers who even without any outlet are
able to get accreditation from the NFA).”
Third, NFA’s volume bidding. With
the government importing rice in large
quantity, a considerable volume – particu-
larly those deemed as ‘less quality’ – are
stocked at NFA warehouses. After some-
time, bent on disposing of such big vol-
ume of rice – 500,000 sacks, for instance, as
Alfonso specified – NFA bids out the
same at a very low price to a cartel capitalist
or businessman who, after bagging the
bid, will simply have to do a little makeover
to improve the quality of the rice, then
package them into commercially tagged
sacks and finally sell them at a favorably
high commercial rate.
But, are really those rice imports
deemed to be of less quality and which
have been already stocked at NFA facili-
ties only the ones dispensed for bidding?
Are biddings conducted fair and clean,
not rigged?
“Yun ay bidding kuno. Hindi totoo.
Bahagi yan ng malakihang cartel ng
bigas. Ang pagka-alam ko, meron ngang
© Denz Dayao / IMPACT
20 IMPACT • May 2006
S T O R Y
nangyari na nagpa-bidding na ang NFA
pero nasa barko pa ang bigas, hindi pa
dumarating (It’s actually a pseudo-bid-
ding. It’s not real. It’s part of the big-time
cartel of rice. As I know it, there was even
an instance that NFA already conducted
the bidding while the rice has not arrived
yet, was still loaded in a boat in high
seas),” Alfonso retorted.
Finally, another appalling culprit that
has handcuffed NFA’s mandate of rice
affordability – sapping, as it were, the food
agency’s resources in terms of importa-
tion costs while leaving at bay high the
prices of rice – is NFA’s importation travel
junkets. Purportedly in order to “inspect
and oversee the loading operations at the
exporting country,” the food agency regu-
larly (once a month, on the average) sends
its officials, around 10-20 on every batch,
to the exporting countries for a duration of
7-10 days – of course, all under govern-
ment expense for the entire travel, accom-
modations, and allowances which include
a $400.00 clothing allowance.
Alfonso however assails that such
travels, aside from sapping the agency’s
resources, are fulsome extravagance, if
useless. “Bakit pa tayo magpapadala ng
mga yan (why do we still have to send
these people) when in fact the government
has already hired the services of survey-
ors, like SGS. It’s their job to inspect the
quality standards based on the specifica-
tions provided for in the contract. It’s
useless.” Worse yet, Alfonso added, that
sometimes even officials from the Office of
the Government Corporate Counsel join
the trips.
Example from Above
Verily, this sordid pathology all the
more unveiled not only the food agency’s
inutility of delivering its mandate of pro-
viding food security and stabilization but
more so the despicable ills and searing
corruption afflicting it pounded upon by
cartel businessmen and loathsome poli-
tics. And as the wrenching muck keeps
barreling to a head, the growling stom-
achs, if dying gasps, of the burgeoning
number of hungry Filipinos are becoming
even more assaulting.
Ain’t there any glimmer, or buds, of
optimism?
“There is. We can survive. We can
even be self-sufficient as this country is
indeed rich in its natural resources. But
change should start from above. If no-
body will lead an example, who will follow.
The correct example should start from the
top, from the national leadership down to
our government officials and politicians
and to the heads and officials of our gov-
ernment offices and agencies,” Alfonso
said.
Perhaps, that requires saying, over
and over again. I
 A R T I
Graduation Thoughts
By Fr. Roy Cimagala
A
s chaplain of a number of schools, l can’t help but get
involved in the preparation and celebration of the gradu-
ation of students. I consider it a very rewarding privilege,
especially when I finally get to celebrate the Holy Mass for them
and to say my little piece of reflections.
Graduations are blessed occasions to give thanks to God
and to many others—parents, teachers, students, etc. They also
allow us to consider again certain basic truths that we tend to take
for granted.
In my view, graduations remind us that our life here on earth
is made of parts and stages. Graduations, among other things,
precisely mark these points of transition. But they actually point
to a very important truth.
And this is none other than that our life, though made of
different parts and stages, is actually one, the very one created
by God though procreated by parents, and meant to participate
in the very life of God.
It is a life that comes from God and belongs to God. Given our
nature and the way we are, it is a life meant to be knowingly and
lovingly offered to God. Man is meaningless without God.
C L E S
The basic structure of our life can readily validate this truth.
The different parts of our being—our intelligence, our will, our
emotions and bodily aspects, even our social life—find their
proper objects in God.
But these truths are often taken for granted. And sometimes
from this indifference and complacency, a more serious attitude
of disbelief can develop with a matching moral life that cannot rid
itself from sin and evil.
The problem that we often have is to consider education
independently of God. The problem comes when we pursue our
idea of human development and maturity outside of the forces of
religion and faith.
The problem develops when we simply depend and rely on
our own powers, often forgetting that these powers—our intel-
ligence and will, especially—come from God, and have to be used
according to God’s laws, not simply to our own will.
This problem can become so widespread that we can talk
about a certain secularization, that is, a systematic removal of God
from all human affairs, replacing him with our own ideas of what
is good and bad. We develop a secularized world.
We now make ourselves our own God, the ultimate creator
and designer of the world, of what is right and wrong, etc. And
thus, everything now depends on us. What we cannot cope, we
simply dismiss, and we don’t seem to care about what would
happen. This is the ultimate expression of self-deification.
The task of education is precisely to form men and women
into real persons aware of who they really are and what they ought
to be and do. This is when we realize that we need to pray to be
in constant contact with God.
Education develops the different aspects of our life with God
as the ultimate and constant principle, goal, pattern and driving
source of energy. The challenge is how we can make this truth a
living reality in all of us.
Only in this way can we, for example, pursue our physical
development that would feel the need for modesty and chastity.
The pursuit for beauty and strength would be cleared of vanity
and arrogance.
Our intellectual development would always follow the objec-
tive standards of truth and recognize the role of faith. It would
always be exercised in humility.
Only in this way can we use our freedom properly, vitally
linking it to truth, and thus making it compatible always with
responsibility and obedience. Freedom would never be a capri-
cious, licentious freedom.
Graduations make us realize all these, and many, many more.
Remember, they mark those points of transition that connect us
to other stages until we reach our proper end—God, our Creator,
Father and Savior. I
Volume 40 • Number 5 21
 I M
The Tausugs / from p. 13
© Rolex de la Pena / epa / CORBIS.COM
the Americans not forced this en-
gagement, the Moro resistance
would have been intolerably pro-
longed and probably a greater
loss of life would have been the
result in the end.
Certain it is that the Moros
were not to be bluffed. War at its
best is a grim business, and the
strong opposition the United
States encountered possibly jus-
tifies the horrible loss in human
life that was concurrent with the
taking of Bud Dajo.
The last stand taken by the
Tausugs at Bud Dajo remind us of the
Jewish Zealots who fought the Ro-
mans in year 72 of the Christian Era at
the top of a mountain fortress called
Masada. Rather than surrender to the
Roman invaders led by Governor
Flavius Silva, they all committed sui-
cide. Only two women and five children
survived by hiding in a cave.
The difference was that the
Tausugs died with their boots on fight-
ing rather than surrender to the Ameri-
cans. The Zealots killed themselves
rather than surrender to the Romans.
The story of Bud Dajo and Masada
is one of courage and struggle for free-
dom and the defense of homeland.
Balikatan
Anyway, last Friday, March 3, the
American troops who were in Sulu for
22 IMPACT • May 2006
P A C T M A G A
the Balikatan Exercises pulled out. Their
spokesman said that they had accom-
plished what they wanted to do there.
They had done some humanitarian work
including medical missions and the con-
struction of some vital infrastructures that
the residents of Sulu apparently appreci-
ated.
If the American troops involved in the
Balikatan exercises did what they said
they did and if the people in Sulu really
appreciated what they did, then it may be
safe to say that their presence their was
not meant to aggravate the law and order
situation but to promote peace.
Sensitive
It is a good thing that the American
troops were sensitive to the hurts in the
hearts of the Moro residents of Sulu many
of whom are descendants of those who
were killed in Bud Dajo 100 years ago.
It is a good thing that the American
troops did not rub the Moros of Sulu the
wrong way by staying on in Sulu today
because they would have been reminded
that 100 years ago, they rubbed out their
ancestors at Bud Dajo.
It is a good thing that instead of
leaving dead people or other casualties
around, the American troops left their
goodwill to the residents of Sulu.
Tired of War
As the lone senator from Mindanao,
Z I N E
I cannot help but make the observation
that the people of Mindanao: (1) do not
need soldiers from any land to make
war in the island. We are tired of war.
We want law and order. We want peace;
(2) want development, roads, bridges,
water systems, electricity, schools,
hospitals, houses for the poor, and
jobs; and (3) advocate the federal sys-
tem of government so that we will have
a just share of the wealth and power of
the nation.
Salute
We salute the men, women and
children who died in Bud Dajo in de-
fense of their homeland.
We who have come after them
thank them that we need not hole our-
selves and our families in some volca-
nic crater to defend our freedoms.
We are of course threatened by
other modern day oppressions—this
time from the President of the country,
herself—but we hope that we can
peacefully deter her from continuing
with her repressive rule.
We have seen her withdraw the
overbearing proclamation 1017 last Fri-
day. We hope to see her withdraw from
Malacanang soon to pave the way for
snap presidential and vice presidential
elections.
Step down
We cannot continue with a presi-
dent who no longer has the trust and
confidence of the people.
We cannot continue with a presi-
dent who has no moral authority to run
the country.
We cannot continue with a presi-
dent who is running amuck with the
powers of the president in complete
disregard of the precepts of the Con-
stitution, the rule of law.
As Senators, we must, therefore,
go with our people and demand that
the president and her vice president
resign now and give our people a
chance to elect a new leader.
Salamat po.
(Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, Jr.
has, in the sixties, worked under Bp. Julio
Labayen of NASSA, the erstwhile publisher of
Impact. Printed with permission, this Privilege
Speech was delivered at the Philippine Senate
on March 7, 2006)
 E N T E
I n the dying years of the 19th century in
Mexico, an American banking magnate
Tyler Jackson (Dwight Yoakam) wants
to secure the rights to the land that he needs
for his extensive railroad network. Peasant
landowners are pressured to sell for a measly
one peso; if they refuse Tyler's goons ruth-
lessly kill them and simply take over. The
rampant injustice makes two women, whose
fathers have been victimized, take on the role
of avenger of the poor. Though entirely
different in temperament and background
(Maria is a practical, farm peasant with little
education while Sara is a sophisticated aris-
tocrat schooled in Europe), they work well
as a team robbing Tyler's banks and giving
the money back to the poor. So successful
are they that Tyler Jackson brings in Quentin
(Steve Zahn), a New York detective well
versed in the latest scientific technology to
help catch the two "bandidas" but Quentin
ends up helping Maria and Sara in their
crusade when he realizes the injustice done.
The trio tries to outwit Jackson who in turn
uses his power and resources to catch them.
Who will have the last card?
Anyone who sees Bandidas will most
likely get an uncanny feeling that he has seen
the picture sometime before. This is because
it seems like a hodge podge of several films
that we have somehow unwittingly stored in
our subconscious. Not not only does it have
the "Mark of Zorro" motif of a folk hero who
robs the rich to give to the poor. It also
recalls snatches of several westerns we may
have seen. A film may borrow and adopt
from other successful pictures but Bandidas
lacks the spark of creativity to make this new
creation different, credible or satisfying. Sure,
this particular spoof on westerns tries to be
humorous but it isn't funny. Its action
sequences are forgettable. Its only drawing
power is the casting of two well known
actresses Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayak
who give their best but are hampered by a
silly story and script. Though cast as polar
ANSWER TO LAST ISSUE: THERE ARE ONLY TWO FAMILIES IN THE WORLD, AS A GRANDMOTHER OF MINE USED TO SAY: THE HAVES AND THE
HAVE-NOTS. -- MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
R T A I N M E N T
CATHOLIC INITIATIVE
FOR E NLIGHTENED
MOVIE APPRECIATION
Title: BANDIDAS
Running Time: 92 min.
Lead Cast: Penelope Cruz, Salma Hayek,
Steve Zahn, Dwight Yoakam, Sam Shepard
Director: Joachim Roenning, Espen
Sandberg
Producers: Luc Besson, Robert Mark
Kamen
Screenwriters:Luc Besson, Ariel Zeitoun
Music: Eric Serra
Editor: Frederic Theraval
Genre: Action/Comedy/Western
Cinematography: Thierry Arbogast
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Location: Mexico
Technical Assessment: # # #
Moral Assessment: @ @
CINEMA Rating: For mature viewers and
above
opposites, they have a certain screen chem- in sight (either in cahoots with the wicked or
istry together. Generally, there is no credible inept) that two unlikely heroes or heroines
characterization. Steve Zahn, however, has have to take it upon themselves to redress
his usual nervous comic personality. Sam the suffering of the poor. Their way is to rob
Shepard's cameo is a brief but welcome ap- the villain's banks and return the money to
pearance. the poor who have lost their land. The goal
In 19th century Mexico of Bandidas, is noteworthy but that end does not justify
life is dirt cheap. Both "heroes" and villains the means or method used. You cannot right
shoot to kill at the drop of a hat, so to speak. a wrong by committing another wrong. Then,
True, it is not that gory and bloody but the the nudity and sex scenes are highly objec-
culture of violence is pervasive. Another tionable and contrary to traditional Filipino
non-value that is just as pervasive is the and Christian values.
injustice especially inflicted on the poor. Date Reviewed: 7 April 2006 @
The police and other authorities are nowhere www.cbcpworld.com/cinema
Volume 40 • Number 5 23
 F R O M T H E B L O G S

been done even yesterday. But what not a few tax paying and law
abiding citizens perceive and think is otherwise. Question: what
will the charter change bring about as its immediate by-products?
One: the repeated CBCP call for the search of the truth on the
conduct and result of the 2004 national elections will be simply
swept under the rug, so to speak. With the key change in the form
of government necessarily go other changes that have direct
bearing on the past to be precisely kept that—a forget-its-past,
moot and academic.
Two: the change of the form of government will certainly
assure one reality as its immediate effect, and this is the continu-
ation in the tenure of power especially on the part of the national
leadership. Incidentally, this is a leadership that more and more
citizens want changed not kept. And the present national
leadership is precisely what charter change will keep unchanged.
Three: any structure of government is as good only as the
persons exercising governance. The structure of government is
relative as to its productive or destructive output, its beneficial
or harmful actuation. What are absolute imperatives are the
honesty and integrity of those governing, the justice they
Charter Change provide, truth they say, the honor and respect they deserve.
The Spaniards have a wise saying: a monkey even if dressed

T
his is but a little observation on the socio-ethical implica-
tions of the strong desire and intense move of the govern-
ment to change the fundamental law of the land—notwith-
standing all reservations to the contrary coming from many
sectors of society.
If it were only true that the change of the form of government
would infallibly lead to a better exercise of power for a better life
of the people as a whole, then the proposed change should have
in silk still remains a monkey. In the same way, the form of
government does not necessarily make those governing better.
The country can have a change of its form of government
everyday—if this could infallibly assure the change too of the
existing pitiful national situation for the better. It is neither certain
nor clear that the Philippines is where it is sadly now primarily
because of its presidential form of government.
www.ovc.blogspot.com

© Todd Davidson /CORBIS

A
recent Roper Report said that the
Filipinos are the unhappy people in
Asia. This is rather far from the
truth, to say the least. Those who know the
Philippines and the other countries in Asia
better will find it hard to accept the Roper
conclusion. The Filipinos may have cer-
tain ambivalent if not altogether negative
traits, but these do not support the Roper
conclusion—although this may appear
true at first glance on account of the many
unhappy socio-ethical elements in the po-
litical and economic circumstances taking

place in the country.
Many Filipinos are poor. More and
more Filipino children no longer go to school.
Less and less people look with respect and
admiration at their government. The coun-
try has sunk deeper in foreign debts. More
and more people are not optimistic of their
future as a nation. But the unhappy people
in Asia, they are not.
Otherwise, how does one explain that
the Philippines has the longest Christmas
celebration in the world? Why is it that
town fiestas are infallibly held even more
than once a year in certain places? And
since when have Filipinos stopped sing-
ing and laughing? And why do Filipino
children continue playing, running, shout-
ing, smiling?
Yes, the present Administration has
made it more and more difficult for the
citizens to earn an honest living and have
a comfortable life. It is true that a good
number of Filipinos would rather work if
not migrate to other countries on account
of their discontent with the present and
emerging future of their nation. It is also
true that more and more Filipinos are ex-
pressing their marked discontent with and
disrespect for the national leadership.
Yet, millions of text jokes are sent all
over the country, generating multi-million
laughter, wedding celebrations, birthday
“Unhappy”
parties, anniversary commemorations—no
matter how humble—continue to be held
practically everyday, the whole year round.
The Filipinos are still hospitable, and
ready still to share the little they have with
others. New happy songs continue to be
composed and happily sung as well. Street
dancing has become more. There are more
local attempts at making it in the Guinness
World Records just for the fun of it.
Being a happy people—this could be
one of the best Filipino traits. No Roper
Report could take this away.
www.ovc.blogspot.com

24 IMPACT • May 2006

 E D I T
Public Morality
M
orality is basically about the right to be
done and wrong to be avoided, the
good to be pursued and the evil to be
discarded. The difference between what is virtu-
ous or vicious is well known and deeply ingrained
in every human being with normal rational facul-
ties. All people of all races, colors and creeds
are covered and bound by standard moral norms.
The truth is that all violations of common
moral rules eventually produce personal degra-
dation and social adversities. Compliance there-
with are conducive to the reign of justice and
truth, the affirmation of social order and peace.
In effect, a society is the more united, harmoni-
ous and stable, the better its constituent members
observe right moral conduct—not only as private
citizens but also as social beings.
The observance of public morality is particu-
larly mandatory for those holding public offices,
exercising public authority. This moral obser-
vance is especially true for those holding high
public positions. Compliance with moral norms
is especially mandatory for one holding the high-
O R I A L
est public office in the land. The reason for this
particular imperative is that it is the said office
that can bring about the greatest good or instead
cause the biggest evil in a country by its moral or
immoral acts respectively.
The truth is that even churchmen are well
covered and bound by moral norms. And those
holding high positions in the church are likewise
the more bound to observe them. Even clerics
may not claim exemption from basic moral laws.
Wherefore, the separation of church and state
is irrelevant for clerics and politicians as far as
public morality is concerned. It is a falsehood to
think that there is one set of basic moral norms
for politicians and another set for churchmen.
No politician and no cleric may lie, cheat or steal.
No member of the hierarchy and the government
may commit graft and corruption or enter into
scandalous deals.
Just as the church wherefore censures erring
clerics, the church may not pretend to be deaf,
mute and dumb when politicians violate public
morals.
Volume 40 • Number 5 25
 S T
EASTER
FRUIT of
THE TREE of
THE CROSS
I
f Christ has not risen from the dead,
St. Paul writes, our faith is futile, and
we have not been forgiven (cf. I Cor. 15/
17). Easter, the Resurrection of Christ, is
the fruit of the tree of the Cross. Easter is
the proof that what Jesus said on Calvary
on that gloomy Good Friday will continue
to be fulfilled in our life. This is the reason
why we celebrate Easter. Each Word of
Jesus on Calvary is guaranteed by his
Resurrection. And so we can say “Your
word, O Lord, is a lamp to my feet and a light
to my path” (Ps. 119[118]: 105).
The first fruit of the Tree of the Cross is
forgiveness. You and I have found forgive-
ness for our sins. “Father,” did not Jesus say,
“forgive them for they know not what they
do.” (Lk. 23/34). Uttered many times during
his public ministry, this word of forgiveness
has brought about many resurrections, like
that of Mary Magdalene, Peter, St. Augus-
tine, and countless sinners down through
the centuries, including ourselves.
We may say that the repentant thief
beside the crucified Savior was the first to
experience resurrection. He was the first
fruit of Good Friday. To him our Lord said:
26 IMPACT • May 2006
A T E M E N
“Today, you will be with me in Paradise”
(Lk. 23/43). Today! So much for your suf-
fering now! Today, you will be happy with
me in Paradise. We will taste the happiness
of God, when we understand the meaning
of Jesus eating and drinking with tax col-
lectors and prostitutes. The fruit of repen-
tance is peace and happiness in God.
Easter is the birth of a new family in the
Risen Christ. But its birth pangs started at
the foot of the Cross, when Jesus said to his
Mother: “Woman, behold you son…Son
behold your mother” (Jo. 19/26-27). At the
foot of the Cross, an Easter People is born,
from which no one is excluded. In the Res-
urrected Christ we are brothers and sisters
of each other. Easter invites us to overcome
all boundaries and hostilities, to become a
communion of communities, family of fami-
lies, an easter people.
If it is true that the Passion of Christ is
not yet over, then even in Easter and after
Easter, we will hear again and again about
the sufferings of man abandoned by God:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?” But this time it is a lot different, be-
cause it is born of a realization that God too
T S
is in compassionate solidarity with man.
Even when we find life ruined and sense-
less, God is there sharing our darkness and
pain. Even God has entered deeply into our
suffering that we may “easter” in him.
Another fruit of the Cross which brings
about the sense of resurrection is friend-
ship. When Jesus cried out “I thirst”, we
encounter the sufferings of God abandoned
by man, and longing for his friendship. God
makes friendship with us by coming to us as
one who needs, as one who begs for what
we have. When Jesus said to the Samaritan
woman “Give me water to drink,” that was
the start of a friendship. When we answer
a need, we create a lasting friendship which
holds untold promise.
On Easter Sunday, we prepare to go back
to work. The work of God is finished: “It is
finished” (Jo. 19/30). But is our work fin-
ished? Is the work of working for the resurrec-
tion of our country finished? I think it has only
began! Christ has finished the foundation.
We must build upon it. After Easter, we still
have a country to build, because our people
are still in the mire of Good Friday. Our people
continue to be crucified by abuse of human
rights, by the negligence of its leaders, by
government graft and corruption. We still
have a work to finish.
On Easter, the word of Christ on the
cross has a different meaning: “Father, into
your hands, I commend my spirit” (Lk. 23/
46). Not only does Christ entrust himself to
the Father, but he entrusts us into God’s
hands. Surrender. Entrustment. Once we
entrust ourselves to God as Jesus did, more
than half of the work, or even all of it will be
in God’s hands. Even if what we are afraid
of or worry about does happen, we can hear
the Lord telling us, “Fear not! I am here!”
We can face Good Friday within Easter time.
There was never a preacher like the
dying Christ, because his message went far
beyond the time of its delivery. His message
continues to be fulfilled bringing about a
continuing procession of easter people, who
are enlivened in their zeal and dedication.
The message from the cross, unlike the words
of dying men, never died. They continue to
echo waking even the dead from their graves.
We can go back again and again to the
message of Christ on the Cross to discover
in them how we can lead ourselves to the
resurrection life that he is offering.
+Angel N. Lagdameo, DD
Archbishop of Jaro
President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference
of the Philippines
April 16, 2006
 S T
T
he Church must not remain on the
sidelines in the fight for justice.
(Deus Caritas Est, 28) This challeng-
ing call of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict
XVI, impels us to express to you, our be-
loved People of God, our deep concern over
the attempt of certain sectors to make hasty
and substantial changes to our Constitu-
tion, supposedly through the “People’s
Initiative” provision in our present charter.
We speak to you, not as lawyers or politi-
cians, but as Shepherds, applying prin-
ciples of our Catholic Social Teaching to
our present situation, and inviting you to
discern, decide and act in the light of the
Gospel.
We recognize and respect those many
concerned and thoughtful Filipinos who
see constitutional reform as a necessary
remedy to the country’s many problems at
present. In our pastoral statement of Janu-
ary 2006, we already stated that “we agree
that certain aspects of our Constitutions
may need amendments and revisions.”
What we wish to challenge and express
unease about is the process by which these
challenges are being brought about.
Concerns about the present
campaign
First, we believe that “changing the
Constitution involving major shifts in the
form of government, requires widespread
participation, total transparency, and rela-
tive serenity that allows for rational discus-
sion and debate.” (CBCP Statement, 2006)
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of
the Church teaches that “the shared partici-
pation of citizens in the destiny of their
communities calls for work for information
and education.” (No. 191) The provision for
a “People’s Initiative” in the present Con-
stitution was precisely an attempt to allow
our people this participation.
We view with alarm, however, the
present signature campaign endorsed by
the government. Signatures are apparently
collected without adequate information, dis-
cussion and education. The manner in which
these signatures are supposedly collected,
including door to door campaigns, are not
conducive to the kind of informed participa-
tion that such fundamental changes de-
mand. The changes that are being pro-
posed for signatures of citizens are danger-
ously unclear and open to manipulation by
groups with self-serving interests. The
complexities and variations of the parlia-
mentary system are not adequately ex-
plained and have not been sufficiently dis-
cussed by our people.
A T E M E N
Second, we believe that “the reasons for
constitutional change must be based on the
common good rather than on self-serving
interests or the interests of political dynasties.”
(CBCP Statement, 2006) The Compendium of
the Social Doctrine of the Church teaches
that: “An authentic democracy is the fruit of a
commitment to the common good as the pur-
pose and guiding criterion for political life.”
(No.407)
In other words, charter change can only
be morally justifiable if the revisions being
proposed will lead to authentic reforms and
development for the nation. Changes must
assure shifts towards: principled politics, trans-
parency and accountability, electoral and insti-
tutional reform, and more efficient delivery of
services to the people, especially the poorest.
Pastoral Statement on the
Alleged “People’s Initiative” to
Change the Constitution
However, no such provisions have been
clearly specified in the present signature cam-
paign. What form of parliamentary system,
how such a parliamentary system will truly
serve the common good and the interests of the
nation, especially the poor, have not been
articulated. Instead, people are given general
and sweeping promises of political stability
and reform that will allegedly automatically
come with a new political system.
This lack of clarity on how the changes will
truly benefit our nation raises disturbing ques-
tions about who will truly benefit from these
changes. It seems that the changes as they are
being proposed now will benefit mainly those
who already hold positions of power and
privilege in the current political system. This
raises questions as to the authenticity of this
signature campaign and the motives of those
who promote it. Is this truly a “people’s initia-
tive” or the initiative of self-seeking political
players wanting to entrench themselves in
T S
power? We might further ask the question of
the source of funding for this entire operation.
Conclusion
A call to discernment and action. In the
light of the difficulties connected with the
present efforts to change the Constitution, we,
your Pastors, invite the People of God to take
up once again the responsibilities of good
citizens, who love this country and seek its true
good. We remind you of the words of our Holy
Father: “The direct duty for a just ordering of
society is proper to the lay faithful. As citizens
of the state, they are called to take part in public
life in a personal capacity. They cannot relin-
quish their participation to promote the com-
mon good.” (Deus Caritas Est, 29)
We invite you then to reflect and pray
over what we have presented in this statement.
If, before God speaking in your conscience,
you agree, we call upon you to discern the
appropriate actions. As Christians, we cannot
be complacent and inactive in the face of this
present issue of charter change, which is so
crucial to the future of our country and people.
Vigilance,education,principledoppositionmay
be necessary steps to take.
As Holy Week draws near, we pray that
the self-sacrificing love of Christ, that along
brings life to the world, may fill the hearts of all
Filipinos and bring about the new life we all
desire for our nation.
For the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of
the Philippines
+ANGEL N. LAGDAMEO
Archbishop of Jaro
CBCP President
April 7, 2006
Volume 40 • Number 5 27
 F R O M T H E I N B O X

The Carpenter
bulldozer to the river levee and now there
is a creek between us. Well, he may have
done this to spite me, but I’ll do him one
better. See that pile of lumber by the barn?
I want you to build me an 8-foot fence—so
I won’t need to see his place or his face
anymore.” The carpenter said, “I think I
understand the situation. Show me the
nails and the post-hole digger and I’ll be
able to do a job that pleases you.”
The older brother had to go to town,
© Royalty-Free/CORBIS

so he helped the carpenter get the materi-

als ready and then he was off for the day.
The carpenter worked hard all that day—
measuring, sawing and nailing. About
sunset when the farmer returned, the car-
penter had just finished his job. The farmer’s
eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped. There
was no fence there at all.
It was a bridge. A bridge that stretched
from one side of the creek to the other! A
fine piece of work, handrails and all! And
the neighbor, his younger brother, was
coming toward them, his hand out-
stretched. “You are quite a fellow to build
this bridge after all I’ve said and done.”

O
nce upon a time, two brothers who
lived on adjoining farms fell into
conflict. It was the first serious rift
in 40 years of farming side-by-side, farm
tools and trading labor and goods as
needed without a hitch.
Then the long collaboration fell apart.
It began with a small misunderstanding
and it grew into a major difference and
finally, it exploded into an exchange of
bitter words followed by weeks of silence.
One morning there was a knock on
John’s door. He opened it to find a man
with a carpenter’s toolbox. “I’m looking
for a few days’ work,” he said. “Perhaps
you would have a few small jobs here and
there I could help with? Could I help you?”
”Yes,” said the older brother. “I do have a
job for you. Look across the creek at that
farm. That’s my neighbor. In fact, it’s my
younger brother! Last week there was a
meadow between us. He recently took his
The two brothers stood at each end of
the bridge, and then they met in the middle,
taking each other’s hand. They turned to
see the carpenter hoist his toolbox onto
his shoulder.
“No, wait! Stay a few days. I’ve a lot
of other projects for you,” said the older
brother. “I’d love to stay on,” the carpen-
ter said, “but I have many more bridges to
build.”
rowena.dalanon@cbcpworld.net

How’s Your
Hut?
T
he only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small,
uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for GOD to
rescue him, but every day he scanned the horizon for help,
© Royalty-Free/CORBIS

but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually man-

aged to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from
the elements and to store his few possessions.
One day, after scavenging for food he arrived home to find his
little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had
happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief,
grief, and anger. “GOD, how could you do this to me?” he cried.
Early the next day he was awakened by the sound of a ship
that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. “How
did you know I was here?,” asked the weary man of his rescuers.
“We saw your smoke signal,” they replied.
It’s easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but
we shouldn’t lose heart, because GOD is at work in our lives, even
in the midst of pain, and suffering. Remember that the next time
your little hut seems to be burning to the ground, it just may be
a smoke signal that summons the grace of GOD.
rowena.dalanon@cbcpworld.net

28
28 IMPACT •• May
IMPACT May 2006
2006
 V A
I
n 1992, a small group of Fili-
pino artists decided to tear
down the disarray among lo-
cal visual artists, and organized
an umbrella group called Visual
Artists Cooperative of the Phil-
ippines (VACOOP). Otherwise
known as the Tuesday Group of
Artists, the office of the National
Commission for Culture and the
Arts (NCCA), situated at the heart
of Intramuros, has been their
sanctuary every Tuesday for
seven years starting a bold move-
ment in art that introduced a
Filipino style of painting. Sculp-
ture Napoleon Abueva and the
late painter Jose Joya, both na-
tional artists, were just some of
the pioneers who helped break
down the barriers and paved the
way for the creation and promo-
tion of the group.
When Joya, the group’s
chair, died in 1995, their shiny
beginnings was met with an im-
passe—either to continue what
they have started or otherwise
fold up. A misunderstanding
among its members later
cropped up until they got fi-
nally divided. “Many insisted
that we have to continue with
our art activities,” says artist
Angel Cruz-Cacnio, one of the
group’s pioneer members.
When the group went dis-
united, it wasn’t long before
plans emerged to build another
group. Later that year, the
Wednesday Group of Artists
was born and has been making
an impression of their own.
Cacnio continued teaching
other artists to discover their
talents and was later offered a
position to chair the core group.
In steering the group,
Cacnio wanted it to become a
strong group of artists endowed
with the passion of helping each
other in developing their cre-
ative talents. “When these art-
ists are improving, their feeling
of inferiority vanishes and so
inspires them to continue the
art activity—a character that
artists should have at present.”
In 1999, they transferred to
the Catholic Bishops Confer-
ence of the Philippines’ com-
pound where they hold their
N I L L A B
Painting the
Tuesday Group
Roy Q. Lagarde
activity every Tuesday at the
cafeteria—an outdoor studio for
still-life paintings and a venue
for workshops and consulta-
tions for various techniques.
Cacnio envisioned such
forum to be of great help for
artists in honing their craft, as
well as generate the much-
needed interest on Filipino art.
He has since then impressively
rallied or harnessed the mem-
bers’ enthusiasm and active par-
ticipation in their chosen craft.
Cacnio being a renowned
artist is a fact. He earned his
Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts
in 1953 and, like Abueva and
Joya, he already received much
recognition as early as his col-
lege years. Among his achieve-
Y T
ments was bagging the first prize
in the Shell National Students
Art Competition in 1953.
His honors are not only
limited to the academe. In 1964,
he also triumphed in garnering
the top place for the Mabini
Centennial Art Competition.
Then in 1981, he was commis-
sioned to design the country’s
twenty and 100-peso bills circu-
lating until now.
He has also launched many
exhibits here and abroad. In the
period of 1960s to 1980s, he was
regularly sent for competitions
abroad to represent the coun-
try. “Actually, he is one of those
being considered to receive the
national artist award”, says
Elmer Gernale, vice-chairman of
Volume 40
Volume 40 •• Number
E S
the Panel for Art Authentica-
tion of the National Museum.
In the past 11 years that
Cacnio guided the group, he re-
tains in his heart a passion for
helping people. It is innate interest
that has kept the group going, he
admits. “It’s not that easy.” In
reality, he said, local artists have to
manage on their own because the
government never cares. “If you
are not famous, you are nothing,”
he quipped. Yet, undeniably, many
foreigners are indeed appreciative
of the indigenous talents that Fili-
pino artists have. “It’s just that
there’s too much politicking in the
country,” he said.
If only his financial re-
sources permit, Cacnio envi-
sions to help other artists hone
their talents and achieve their
dream of gaining public recog-
nition and appreciation. “I be-
lieve the pleasure of our artists
is just simple. They just want
their work to be appreciated and
recognized,” he declared.
“Many are dying as for-
gotten heroes,” he said. “I want
to help my fellow artists. I want
them to experience what we have
experienced before.”
That is why Cacnio and
other veterans of the Tuesday
Group are wasting no time giv-
ing encouragement not just to
their members but to other art-
ists as well. The group, which
currently has around 35 mem-
bers, helps each other to pro-
mote their work through exhib-
its in and around Metro Manila,
as well as by collaboratively
soliciting or sourcing for inter-
ested buyers.
“We want to inspire them
and help them develop their iden-
tity,” he said. If there is another
thing he hopes to pass on to
other members, it is also the pure
and simple enjoyment creating
something that starts in the imagi-
nation and is then transformed
into a beautiful work of art.
Cacnio has just turned 75
this month. He said that most
pioneers of their group are not
that active anymore. Some are
too old and some have already
passed away. “But I have to
continue,” he said. I
Number 55 29
29
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CAMBODIA
Attack on opposition
still unsolved
It has been nine years
after the grenade attack
on opposition party rally
in Phnom Penh that
claimed 16 lives and more
than 150 injured, but there
has been no progress in
bringing the perpetrators
to justice, Human Rights
Watch said. They urged
the U.S. government,
which looked into the at-
tack because an American
was hurt, to reopen its in-
vestigation. Brad Adams
of HRW said, “The gre-
nade attack sent a mes-
sage that to oppose those
in power is dangerous,
even lethal, while those in
charge who commit the
worst kinds of human
rights violations will get
away with murder.”
CHINA
Chinese spend more
time online
According to Dr.
Charles Zhang, chair and
CEO of sohu.com, there
are now more Chinese
internet users than Ameri-
can users, and they spend
more time online. In their
research, Chinese Internet
users numbered over 150
million up to 200 million.
Nielsen NetRatings, which
does not have statistics for
China, reports that the U.S.
had 154 million active us-
ers in January 2006. This
means that China, if Zhang
is correct, is at or above
the U.S. in the number of.
Internet users. The rea-
son? Chinese log on to the
Internet because, in China,
30 IMPACT • May 2006
W S B R
there are no Forbes,
Reuters or Washington
Post. Print media are all
state-controlled and offi-
cial.
INDIA
India takes action
against Google Earth
Indian government has
taken actions and mea-
sures against invasive im-
ages of strategic installa-
tions shown on Google
Earth, a satellite imaging
service. The site shows
aerial shots of India’s war
fields and other sensitive
locations. Indian officials
fear the said site endan-
gers their sensitive and
strategic locations.
India’s army is the fourth
largest in the world.
INDONESIA
Execution of 3 Catho-
lics suspended
The execution of three
Indonesian Catholics sen-
tenced to death that was
supposed to take place
April 1, for their alleged
role in violence that
rocked Poso in 2000 has
been suspended, Fides re-
ported recently. Masyudi
Ridwan, spokesperson for
the Attorney General’s
Office, said the delay of
said execution was be-
cause of the lack of im-
portant documents. Ear-
lier, Bishop Joseph
Suwatan of Manado sent
a message of sympathy
from Pope Benedict XVI
to the three Catholic pris-
oners after a controver-
sial trial that many ob-
servers said was unjust.
I E F S
IRAN
Caritas calls for aid for
Iran’s quake victims
Via Fides Service, the
Caritas Internationalis is
calling on its member orga-
nizations to provide food,
water, tents and other emer-
gency items to help victims
of the recent earthquake in
Iran. Caritas is focusing its
efforts on 1,000 to 1,500
families in the three worst
hit villages in the immediate
vicinity of the west Iranian
town of Boroujerd — Darbe
Astaneh, Bozazna and
Gnanjineh. Seventy people
were reportedly killed after
the quake and left some 15,
000 families homeless.
KOREA
Cardinal mulls hosting
Youth Day in Korea
Seoul’s new Cardinal has
uttered interest to host the
World Youth Day (WYD).
Cardinal Nicolas Jin-suk,
archbishop of Seoul, said
that the gathering could
boost priestly vocations
among Korean youth. He
said that he would do ev-
erything possible to have
Korea host the next WYD,
after the 2008 gathering in
Australia.
MYANMAR
Myanmar army under-
staffed
The Myanmar army’s co-
ercive recruitment practices,
low salary and meager ra-
tions have led to serious
morale problems and wide-
spread desertion. Myanmar
military policy requires that
an infantry battalion should
constitute over 750 army per-
sonnel. According to reports,
however, 220 of 504 infan-
try battalions are each staffed
with just 200-300 personnel
while the remaining 284 in-
fantry battalions each have
fewer than 200 soldiers.
PHILIPPINES
Pope to donate Holy
Thursday collection to
landslide victims
The Holy Father has de-
cided to donate the collec-
tion of the Evening Mass of
the Lord’s Supper on Holy
Thursday in Vatican to the
February mudslide victims
in Leyte, a Catholic news
agency said Monday.
According to Catholic
World News, the “Vatican has
announced that during the
ritual of the washing of the
feet, the faithful will be asked
to contribute to the Pope's
donation to the reconstruc-
tion effort in the
Philippines.”The funds col-
lected will be used to build
new dwellings for those fami-
lies who lost their homes in
the catastrophic mudslides that
claimed thousands of lives.
VIETNAM
Bird flu found in Viet-
nam
Vietnam Health experts
have discovered bird flu in
poultry smuggled from
China and are conducting
tests for the H5N1 virus. A
health official said that
they’ve just made test on 30
samples of the said illegally
imported poultry. One of
the samples yielded positive
of the avian flu virus.
Volume 40 • Number 5 31