Thursday, April 28, 2011

Virtual Ethnography 101: Giving Importance to the Last Supper of Christ

This summer I asked my college students in Anthropology 1, aside from learning anthropological concepts and theories inside the classroom - to explore places, experience cultural happenings, and then apply their learning through writing ethnographic accounts using the method of participation-observation.

I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.

Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.


By Lianne Kristel Belamide

A Trip to Laguna

This year’s holy week wasn’t any different from the previous holy weeks in the past years of my life. Having been raised in a non-Catholic church I didn’t grow up observing the Lenten Season. Nevertheless, living in a Christian country like ours, people’s activities during this season is ubiquitous.

I spent the ‘Holy Week’ In Manila because of the summer classes. As soon as the holiday started, together with my closest friends, we hit the road and went to Laguna. The traffic was horrendous but after an almost two and a half hours of traveling we got to Pansol where different resorts are adjacent to one another. It took us another half an hour to look for a resort because most of them are already crowded. We decided to go a little farther and were glad enough to discover this resort right at the foot of a mountain.

The place was wonderful. There were three swimming pools. Blooming colorful bougainvilleas were everywhere and the air was simply and undoubtedly fresh. The view was breathtaking.

After settling in, we decided to explore the place. Groups of families where everywhere in the cabanas and benches. There were lots of kids running around. The smell of inihaw na isda was lingering in the area. This somehow brought me back to my usual itinerary every summer.

When I was young it has been a tradition for my family to visit my grandparents every summer. It always happens that it was during the holy week. Whenever I visit my grandparents I somehow became aware of the activities that they practice during this ‘special’ season.

It’s wonderful how my family doesn’t really argue and talk about how different our religions are. My grandparents didn’t ask us to join them whenever they go to masses. I was aware that the holy week starts with Palm Sunday which honors the beginning of Christ’s suffering. In the Filipino Catholic tradition people make palm branches and wave them as they sing songs of praises. My grandparents would also go to Triduum Masses all week long. During twilight of every day, my grandmother, together with a group of people, would chant the Christ’s passion until Black Saturday. It is amazing how they do all of these religiously.

For the whole week, I have seen people lashed their backs with rods and let it bleed as they walk under the scorching heat of the sun. Others are busy making floats for the procession of their Saints for Good Friday. There are also SENAKULO being played in the town plaza where my grandparents would watch on Holy Wednesday and Holy Thursday. One of the most spectacular events during the holy week is the crucifixion of those people who think they have committed so many sins that they believe they need to be crucified just like Jesus.

We only spent two days at the resort and hurriedly went back home to Manila before Good Friday because we thought there would be no buses anymore. After that, my weekend was silent.

Reflection

As a believer of the Church of Christ, I don’t practice the traditional Holy Week. However, in our church, we believe that in the bible Jesus asked us to remember Him and how He saved us from our sins through the Holy Supper (Banal na Hapunan). We celebrate this only once a year. We prepare ourselves before taking part in the Holy Supper by means of repenting our sins and renewing ourselves from our sinful life.

The Holy Week is a tradition which became a part of people’s lives and the lives before them for thousands of years. This simply tells us how powerful influencing tool religion is. If we go back in history, was the holy week the same as it is now? I stumbled upon an internet article from Zenit, an international news agency which covers issues from the Catholic Church, where a posted script of the Interview with Father Juan Flores Arcas on The History of Holy Week was posted. When asked when Holy Week has been observed as such since the beginning of Christianity, he stated the following:

“The most ancient original core of Holy Week is the Easter Vigil, of which there were traces already in the second century of the Christian era. It was always a night of vigil, in remembrance and expectation of Jesus Christ's resurrection.

To it was soon added the reception of the sacraments of Christian initiation: baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist, so that it became in turn the great sacramental night of the church.”

Arcas (2006) also added that the Easter Vigil was extended in time and transformed into the triduum of the Lord's passion, death and resurrection, which St. Augustine already mentioned as a very generalized celebration. This triduum added to the existing vigil other important moments of the celebration, specifically, the memorial of the Lord's death on Good Friday, and Holy Thursday. The latter involved no fewer than three very different Eucharistic celebrations.

He mentioned in the interview that the importance of Holy Thursday was transferred to the Easter Vigil. In the present-day liturgy, Holy Thursday is when the Easter Triduum starts. It is then followed by the first day of the triddum which is Good the Friday of Passion of the Lord. A day of fasting is then followed for the Holy Saturday where there is no Eucharist on that day. And lastly, the third day of the Easter triduum begins on Sunday which is the Lord’s resurrection day.

Evidently, the celebration of the Holy Week was an evolving holy day. How people manage to keep it makes it apparent that religion really is a powerful tool in shaping a society. It is not only through the lent season that we observe how true this is. In our society, it is apparent that most people are programmed to follow and obey whatever the church says. Whatever the religion is, people comply with its system.

References:

Collins, Ken. Holy Week. Retrieved April 25,2011 from http://www.kencollins.com/holy-05.htm

Origin of Holidays – History of Easter. Retrieved April 25, 2011 from http://www.information-entertainment.com/Holidays/easter.html

Zenith daily dispatch. (2006, April 6). History of Holy Week. [Interview wih Father Juan Flores Arcas]. Retrieved from http://www.ewtn.com/library/liturgy/zholyweek.HTM

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Virtual Ethnography 101: The Season of Lent

This summer I asked my college students in Anthropology 1, aside from learning anthropological concepts and theories inside the classroom - to explore places, experience cultural happenings, and then apply their learning through writing ethnographic accounts using the method of participation-observation.

I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.

Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.


By Jasper Seth Yao

The scorching heat of the midday sun made everything twice as unbearable as I knelt at the foot of an ancient instrument of torture and consumed ritualistic symbols of blood and flesh. Then, burnt remains of sacred palm were smeared on my forehead accompanied by murmurs of death and decay. With that, my Ash Wednesday was complete and Lent had officially begun.

That was the picture of my annual encounter with the season of Lent as I grew up in a Catholic high school. After school, my mom would laugh at the remnants of the cross on my forehead as it irritated my kin and caused it to swell and turn red. She would tell me that it was the price of being devoted to God and repenting for my sins. After all, that’s what lent is all about, repentance.

The Catholic Church of the Philippines has urged its followers to fast and reflect on their sins. Somewhere along the way, however, thing got out of hand and the Filipinos found a way to somehow follow Christ’s footsteps more literally. Most Filipinos simply went on religious tours, hopping from church to church, praying, and meditating on their sins and sinfulness as they completed the Stations of the Cross. Others, however, chose more physical method of repentance. Along the way to the churches, half-naked men would be found prostrating on the ground, whipping themselves on their backs, carrying crosses, or even actually having themselves crucified.

Once asked, they would say that this is their way of repenting or this was part of their “panata” or a promise they made to God in exchange for a miracle or a favor. As they went around with their bloody backs and their self-flagellation, I wondered what could have possibly caused these people to believe that hurting and torturing themselves was going to do anyone any good.

The Philippine Catholic Church itself made it clear that they do not condone such acts of extreme violence towards oneself. Why, then, do some Filipinos still insist on doing these terrible things to themselves?

As I searched for answers, I stumbled upon a couple of websites that attribute it to Philippines’ history with the Spanish friars. According to one of these sites, such rituals are part of a folk religious culture that has deep roots in a brand of obscurantism that dates back to the Spanish colonial period. Hispanic Filipinos likened the suffering of Christ to their oppression in the hands of their abusive Spanish landlords and friars. Indeed, “Holy Week” encapsulates the Filipino culture of suffering, poverty and illness; it speaks not just of our redemption in the next life, but also the travails of our present life.

On the other side of things, though, there are the less extremely religious Filipinos who take advantage of the non-working holiday to leave the hustle and bustle of Metro Manila in search of themselves in serene beaches, mountaintops, or even lands abroad. Since my family belongs to this particular community, I can attest to their behavior more accurately than those of the religious extremists I have mentioned.

Having been born a Catholic, the early memories of my life were those of an obedient young Filipino Catholic, complete with the trademark focus on damnation and suffering instead of salvation and love for all. Personally, I don’t take this against the Philippine Catholic Church since they have lived with these teachings for almost 400 years at the hands of the Spanish.

Along with the rest of my family, I gave something up every Lent. It would be something typical like junk food, meat. television, or computer games. This wouldn’t last very long since I really loved all those things as a child so I was advised to focus on giving them up on Fridays instead. Given this self-imposed ultimatum, my siblings and I would stay up until the very last minute of Thursday enjoying all these things we were supposed to give up the next day. That way, we spent most of Friday asleep and therefore, guilt-free.

More recently, however, I found this underhanded way of cheating the season rather tiring so I gave up the practice altogether. I picked it up again when I was assigned to observe and participate in the season of Lent once more for school. As I went o Korea with 20 of my relatives, I watched as they tried to abstain on Friday even as we were served nothing but kimchi, some side dishes of vegetables, and meat. It didn’t even last a minute. My cousins, aunts, and uncles were feasting on freshly cooked meat and neglecting those vegetables like they were just saved from a deserted island.

This is true for a lot of my friends as well. I suppose in this day and age, we simply don’t feel as religious and ritualistic about the season of lent as the past generations once were. Maybe it’s just the culture I contribute to in my own sphere of influence. Maybe it’s the mass media from first world countries seeping into our own society. Whatever it is, it has inspired my loved ones and I to become less preoccupied with rules and rites and more focused on what really matters, becoming a better person for society and living a balanced lifestyle.

I have given up being religious long ago. Instead, I have chosen to be spiritual, to take whatever path to God or enlightenment that I find most suitable for myself. My family and friends have done the same. This season of Lent, we have been reminded of how the past has failed in trying to compartmentalize their good will and Christianity into seasons instead of lifetimes. Now, when I ask around, more and more people have been excitedly talking about focusing on being part of the solution instead of spreading hate for the problems. In a few conversations I had with people I knew from Church groups and choirs they generally said that “Giving hope in what we can do is just so constructive, while hating these sins and mistakes we’ve made is just destructive. It only brings people down, you know?”

References:

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Cynthia/festivals/lent.htm.
http://forthephilippines.blogspot.com/2010/04/philippines-lent-2010-from-lens-of.html.
http://www.icanews.com/2011/03/16/clergy-urge-abstinence-modesty-in-lent/
http;//www.filipinoheritage.com/religious/Cuaresma.htm

Virtual Ethnography 101: The Next Big Thing

This summer I asked my college students in Anthropology 1, aside from learning anthropological concepts and theories inside the classroom - to explore places, experience cultural happenings, and then apply their learning through writing ethnographic accounts using the method of participation-observation.

I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.

Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.


By Llenel de Castro



It’s nice to have a technology savvy church.

This year’s Visita Iglesia took me to six different churches from Bulacan and Pangasinan. I averaged four minutes per station and excluding the six-hour lag between the fourth and fifth station, the whole way of the cross was finished in 43 minutes.

I started my online journey while lying down on my beanbag couch on Saturday afternoon. Still in my pajama and barely finished with my cereal, I loaded the introduction video. In it., Msgr. Pedro C. Quitorio III, CBCP’s Media Office Director talked about why they made the online version. He explained that it was made for those who are unable to do the traditional Visita Iglesia, such as the sick or OFWs, and not for those who are just too lazy to go out or those who claim to be allergic to heat (guilty!).

The first church featured was St. Lawrence Martyr Parish in Balagtas, Bulacan. With just a simple click, the voice recording of the first station, The Last Supper, began. After four minutes, the audio recording of the second station, The Agony in Gethsemani, played. At 1:38 PM, I moved on to another church, the Nuestra Senora dela Asuncion in Bulakan, Bulacan. Here I listened to the audio recording of the third, Jesus Before the Sanhedrin, and fourth, The Scourging and Crowning with Thorns, stations.

I experienced technical difficulties at the fifth station. The audio file for the fifth station simply would not load no matter how many times I tried so at 1:48 PM, I decided to take a long break that involved taking a nap, watching a few episode of Bones, doing other assignments and eating chips, dip and dinner. I resumed at 7:16 PM and listened to the audio recording of the fifth, Jesus Receives the Cross, and sixth, Jesus Falls Under the Weight of the Cross, station while looking at images of the San Ildefonsus, Archbishop of Toledo Parish in Guiguinto, Bulacan.

The seventh, Simon of Cyrene Carries the Cross of Jesus, and eight, Jesus Meets the Pious Women of Jerusalem, stations showed pictures or the exterior façade and retablo of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Barasoain Bulacan. The ninth, Jesus is Nailed to the Cross, and tenth, The Repentant Thief, on the other hand, featured photos from Our Lady of Purification Parish in Binmaley, Pangasinan. The last two stations, Mary and John at the Foot of the Cross and Jesus Dies on the Cross, took me to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish in Manaoag, Pangasinan.

My online journey officially ended at 7:47 PM. In a total time of 43 minutes, I was able to visit six churches in two provinces, roughly a hundred kilometers apart, by just clicking a simple button. Admittedly, my attention sometimes drifted to other things and I found myself reading up on different topics, such as places to spend Easter morning, while listening. It may seem like a cheat who are physically able to do the real thing but it’s just like the e-burol and e-libing services offered by a popular chapel service, catering to family members who can’t attend. While the online Visita Iglesia can’t replace the experience of traveling for hours moving from one place to another while trying to survive the unbearable heat and hunger, for those homesick Filipinos in different parts of the world, it’s the next best thing.

Virtual Ethnography 101: Holy Week Reflections

This summer I asked my college students in Anthropology 1, aside from learning anthropological concepts and theories inside the classroom - to explore places, experience cultural happenings, and then apply their learning through writing ethnographic accounts using the method of participation-observation.

I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.

Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.



By Dyan Barrion

We are not really able to feel the Lenten season in this year of 2011. I spent the whole Holy Week with my family and other relatives. In that week, we were in my grandmother’s ancestral house in Talisay, Batangas. This is what we usually do during the Holy Week. We will go to the province for a vacation and to meet up with our relatives. But for this year we spent our Lenten season differently. My grandmother passed away on Monday morning and we spent the whole week in the province in lamentation.

Even though there is Holy Week every year, I am not used to the customs that go hand in hand with this season. On Pal Sunday, my father knocked loudly on my door and on my older brother’s door. He wanted us to get up so that we can all go to church. As usual, my brother and I did not want to go. I always tend to sleep so late resulting to me waking up during the afternoon on the next day. My father started to get angry so we had no choice but to follow him.

We are all ready to attend mass at St. Francis Church in Ortigas when we received a call that my grandmother was in critical condition. We decided to check on her first in the hospital. Things were not getting any better. My father told me that I should just go to the church with my older brother so that we could attend mass and have our palaspas (palm) blessed.

I attended the ten o’clock mass with my older brother, for some reason, there is always a very good feeling right after the mass. But after the mass on Palm Sunday, I was happier for some reason. When I started waving our palaspas alongside with the other people inside the church, there was such a fulfillment. It was as if Brother Jesus was really there and we were in Jerusalem welcoming him warmly into the city.

On Good Friday, I slept in so much since I was one of the people assigned to watch over my sleeping grandmother for the night. It was past twelve noon when I was abruptly awakened by my mother. I was not really reluctant to wake up since I was just able to sleep around 7 a.m. that morning. But my mother showed no sign that she will just let me continue sleeping at that time.

“Ma, umaga na po nung natulog ako,” (Mom, it was already morning when I slept), that’s what I told my mother. “Gusto ko pang matulog, please” (Please, I want to sleep further).

“Maliligo ka ba?” (Are you going to take a bath?), my mother asked me. I was puzzled for a moment why she would need to know if I was going to take a bath on that day. It’s not like I’m not taking a bath everyday.

“Syempre naman po,” (of course), I said before getting under the blanket again.

“Aba. Eh kung maliligo ka pala ay maligo ka na ngayon. Hindi lang tayo ang maliligo. Marami pa ang gigabit ng banyo kaya maligo ka nabago mag-alas-tres ng hapon,” (Goodness. If you want to take a bath do it now. It not only you who will do that because others will also use the shower room. Take a bath before three o’clock in the afternoon), she told me.

“Pero gusto ko pa pong matulog. Masamang maligo kapag puyat,” (But I want to sleep more. It’s not advisable to take a bath when you have less sleep), I reasoned out to her.

“Kung gayon eh wag ka na lang maligo,” (if that’s the case then don’t take a bath), she said. I frowned when my sleepiness started to go away at that moment.

“Bakit naman hindi? Pwede pa naman akong maligo mamayang hapon. Kapag pagabi na lang para malamig ang tubig,” (Why isn’t not allowed? I can still take bath late in the afternoon, at dusk so that the water is colder).

“Hindi na pwedeng maligo pagkatapos ng alas-tres ng hapon dahil patay ang Diyos,” (It’s not allowed to take a bath after three o’clock in the afternoon because Christ already died), she told me as she started to sort some of our clothing.

“Bakit naman po?” (Why?) I could not help it but to ask her what is the connection of Brother Jesus being dead from three o’clock onwards to me taking a bath a 3 p.m. in the afternoon.

“Hay naku. Basta maligo ka na lang. Kapag naligo ka pagkatapos ng alas-tres eh ang dugo na ni Hesus ang ipampapaligo mo.” (Goodness. I command you take a bath now. If you do that after three in the afternoon, it’s the blood of Christ that would shower you). My mother told me before leaving me in the room even though I was curious to find out the truth in the superstitious belief. So, I just decided to follow her commands and then take a bath.

During the late afternoon of Good Friday, my older brother told me that he will be going to the bayan. I insisted on coming with him since it was quite boring just to stay in the house for several days. We really had nothing to do if there are no people visiting my deceased grandmother. My older brother was assigned to buy some liquor for our male relatives. I decided to come with him. Excitedly got in our car and waited patiently for my brother to get in the driver’s seat. He was really taking a long while so I got out of the car to look for him. At the moment he saw me, he started scolding me, asking me where in the hell did I go.

"Tara na,” (Let’s go now). He said as we walked to the gate.

“Hindi ba natin gagamitin yun sasakyan? Full tank pa naman ha. Ayaw kong mag-tricycle,” (Aren’t we going to use the car? It’s full tank. I don’t want to ride a tricycle). I whined.

“Hindi natin magagamit ang sasakyan at hindi rin tayo magtra-tricycle,” (We’re not going to use the car nor ride a ride a tricycle,” he told me.

“Ha?! Bakit naman? Huwag mong sabihin na maglalakad tayo?! Ang layo-layu ng bayan!” (What?! Why not? Don’t tell to me we’ll walk?! The town proper is too far!) I said as I tugged on his shirt.

“May prosisyon daw. Sayang lang ang gasolina dahil tiyak trapik pero sabi nila walang trapik dahil walang sasakyan. Sinarado yata ang daan,” (There is a procession. We might just waste gasoline due to traffic although there are only few vehicles plying the street. But I guess they closed the road). He informed me. I pouted but still decided to tag along with him.

I knew we were nowhere halfway towards our destination when we caught with the procession. There were a lot of figures of saints and a number of images of the Virgin Mary. I know there are a number of names given to the Mama Mary but up to now I am still not sure how many names Mother Mary has. I was enchanted by the beautiful Mary’s. They were dressed up in such elegant gowns. We did not really intend to go along with the procession. My older brother wanted to go ahead of it but we find it hard to go passed through the crowd. We had no choice but to march with the very slow procession.

It amazed me how much people can be so devoted. They spend time and effort to go to these processions and offer long prayers to God, Mother Mary, Brother Jesus, and the saints. I am amazed by how much Filipinos keep on showing their faith to God.

On Black Saturday, I was helping out in the kitchen. We were preparing palitaw (rice cake) for the guests when one of my youngest cousins came to bother me. She asked me to play with her. I played with her since her older sister left for a while. However, always full of energy, my younger sister started to sing loudly and dance around. But her mother cam around to scold her.

“Huwag kang maingay dahil patay ang Diyos. Mabuti pa at matulog na lang kayo ng Ate Dyan mo,” (don’t be noisy because Christ is dead. It’s better if you sleep together with sister cousin Dyan). I had no choice but to accompany my younger cousin to bed. I concluded that we should not do any kind of merry-making until Easter Sunday. There was no television in that old ancestral house because it has been so long since it was abandoned. With my younger cousin passed asleep, I proceeded to entertain myself by playing games on my PSP.

The next day, my mother woke me up at six in the morning. She told me that we are going to the church to attend mass. I did not complain this time around. We all went to the church and hear mass.

The church was so packed. It was hot inside but pilgrims kept on coming the whole morning. Even if it seemed to be such a struggle inside the church, after the mass ended, I felt a great fulfillment. At lunchtime, we had another mass to attend to in honor of my deceased grandmother. But the day went by smoothly.

I failed to watch people having their penitensya (penitence) this year. My older brother usually takes me with him to see men hitting their own backs until they bleed. The first time I saw a man crucified, I failed to see him nailed on the cross. I cannot help but to wonder why they should subject themselves in such painful acts in order to honor the death and resurrection of our brother Jesus Christ. But in the end, I cannot also help it but to admire these men to endure pain and sacrifice. Although I think that they were able to help a lot in preserving the tradition of some Filipinos during the Lenten season.

For me the Lenten season is one of the precious times we can spend time with our loved ones. The Holy Week gives each family members and relatives to gather together and strengthen the bonds they have each other. This is a season that does not only honor the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ but also to keep families together.

Virtual Ethnography 101: Eat, Pray, Love



As part of the weekly exercises of my graduate students in Anthropology 225: Philippine Society and Culture, I wanted my students to explore places and write ethnography using the method of participation-observation.

I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.

Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.


By Lyra Athena Duaso

Back in college, we were asked to write a paper comparing the architecture of Quiapo church and to that of Sampaloc’s Sto. Domingo church. My observation was that whereas Sto. Domingo was high and imposing, and reminded people of heaven, Quiapo church was smaller and more grounded, and seemingly more accepting of people.

Quiapo church is located in an old part of Manila where the modern cityscape is interspersed with classical facades, and everywhere are people populating the labyrinthine streets and alleys. In an urban jungle increasingly characterized by walled subdivisions and exclusive villas, Quiapo remains to be a place of mainstream convergence where the swell of humanity is as much a feature of the place as the building themselves.

The smog I inhaled and the pollution I accumulated on the way to the church was enough to make anyone pray. Through the side doors that plainly read “Pasukan” and “Labasan,” I immediately spotted a group of people standing to the side, reading a print advertisement on the evils of abortion. Women and kids sitting on stools were on the rear end of the church, fanning themselves and looked to have been there all day. Off to an annexed hallway was the church’s payments area for church services like baptisms and weddings. One the sides were donation boxes that urged the churchgoers to give to the TV Maria Foundation, a Catholic Filipino TV channel.

It was a Saturday afternoon and the place was packed with people of all shapes, sizes, health conditions, and status quo. Quiapo is famed for the miracles of its holy figure, and for the overwhelming piety of its devotees, both rich and poor. That day, there were young men in uniform who, despite looking tough, were solemnly kneeling. There was a woman with goiter who strode to the front and left a while later. There was a man who looked like Jesus himself who walked up and down the aisle.

The whole are was abuzz with noise. No mass was ongoing at the time so the people had their own sessions by themselves. Amidst all the busy-ness, it was a wonder how the people who had their hands clasped together in supplication somehow managed to have personal bubbles of silence to pray unperturbed.

Most of the people who dropped by for short sessions averaged around five minutes of prayer time before leaving. Some who sat by the pews had their own private conversations with the walls as they just stared off into space. A number were also standing by and seemed to be content to merely gaze at the statues in front. With the church doors open, dozens of people passed by to exit into the cacophony of vendors on the other side, as though the church itself was just any ordinary hallway to cross. Some of these, though, thoughtfully stopped by the aisle to kneel in adoration before moving on. Some went straight to where the Holy Water was and promptly dipped their fingers and made the sign of the cross. Whether as token rituals or sincere gestures, it was unmissable how these practices were already so deeply ingrained in the people’s lives, that they had become a way of life.

Outside, the air was suffused with the fragrant smell of sampaguita. Vendors plied anything from the flowers, candles, rosaries, hand fans, to flying paper insects. Just a few ways off were the fortunetellers. Food establishments were spread out across the area.

I honestly cannot tell which came first, the church or the market that surrounds it. It could be that the church came first and the people attracted by its fame served as the first audience to the vendors that sprouted around it over the years, and who had recognized the demand for piety that could be helped with religious merchandise. It could be that the market was there long before and that the mainstream atmosphere of it prompted the creation of a church that served the needs of the masses perfectly. Either way, the two fed off of each other’s energy, depending on each other for sustenance.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

University of the Philippines v. Court of Appeals, et. al.

Chester Cabalza recommends his visitors to please read the original & full text of the case cited. Xie xie!

G.R. No. 97827 February 9, 1993

UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES, petitioner,
vs.
COURT OF APPEALS, HONORABLE RODOLFO A. ORTIZ, Presiding Judge, Regional Trial Court (Branch 89), National Capital Region, Quezon City, Metro Manila, MANUEL ELIZALDE, BALAYEM, MAHAYAG, DUL and LOBO, respondents.

Facts:

The facts which have drawn the University of the Philippines (UP) from the quiet groves of academia to the judicial arena are as follows:

On August 15-17, 1986, the "International Conference on the Tasaday Controversy and Other Urgent Anthropological Issues" was held at the Philippine Social Science Center in Diliman, Quezon City.

Jerome Bailen, Professor of the University of the Philippines, Department of Anthropology, was the designated conference chairman. He presented therein the "Tasaday Folio," a collection of studies on Tasadays done by leading anthropologists who disputed the authenticity of the Tasaday find and suggested that the "discovery" in 1971 by a team led by former Presidential Assistant on National Minorities (PANAMIN) Minister Manuel Elizalde, Jr. was nothing more than a fabrication made possible by inducing Manobo and T'boli tribesmen to pose as primitive, G-stringed, leaf-clad cave dwellers.

In the same conference, UP history professor, Zeus Salazar, traced in a publication the actual genealogy of the Tasadays to T'boli and Manobo ethnic groups. He likewise presented ABC's "20/20" videotaped television documentary showing interviews with natives claiming to have been asked by Elizalde to pose as Tasadays.

In July 1988, UP allegedly sent Salazar and Bailen to Zagreb, Yugoslavia to attend the 12th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences. There, Salazar and Bailen reiterated their claim that the Tasaday find was a hoax. Their allegations were widely publicized in several dailies.

With these acts and utterances of Bailen and Salazar as well as newspaper reports and commentaries on the matter as bases, on October 27, 1988, Elizalde and Tasaday representatives Balayem, Mahayag, Dul and Lobo, filed a complaint for damages and declaratory relief against Salazar and Bailen before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

On November 24, 1988, UP filed a motion to intervene with supporting memorandum asserting that, having authorized the activities of Bailen and Salazar, it had a duty to protect them as faculty members for acts and utterances made in the exercise of academic freedom. Moreover, it claimed that it was itself entitled to the right of institutional academic freedom.

At the hearing on the motion to intervene on November 28, 1988, the lower court required UP to submit its answer in intervention "to enable the Court to better appreciate the issue of whether or not the motion for leave to intervene . . . should be granted."

On December 5, 1988, Salazar and Bailen filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that: the complaint failed to state a cause of action; the cause of action, if any, had already prescribed; they are protected by the guarantees of free speech and academic freedom; the court had no jurisdiction to grant declaratory relief in a civil action and no justiciable controversy exists.

Said motion to dismiss was denied by the lower court on January 9, 1989. The same court order held that there was no necessity to appoint a guardian ad litem for the Tasaday plaintiffs, granted UP's motion for leave to intervene and admitted UP's answer in intervention dated December 8, 1988.

In the meantime, on February 15, 1989, UP filed a motion to dismiss the complaint but it was stricken off the record in the Order of February 16, 1989. A subsequent motion for reconsideration was likewise denied.

On March 12, 1991, the Court of Appeals rendered a decision dismissing the petition and lifting the temporary restraining order it had earlier issued. It held that the motion to dismiss may not be granted on the ground of insufficiency of cause of action predicated on matters not raised in the complaint. It ruled that the lower court had jurisdiction over the complaint for damages as the action was aimed at recovering relief arising from alleged wrongful acts of the defendants.

Issues:

1)Whether the acts of the defendants are within the protective mantle of academic freedom guaranteed by the Constitution for which they cannot be made liable for damages.

2)Whether the Tasaday ethnic group is a hoax as the defendants had claimed in a public discussion.

3)Whether Bailen and Salazar infringed on plaintiffs' civil and human rights when they maliciously and falsely spoke and intrigued to present plaintiffs Tasaday as fakers and impostors collaborating in a hoax or fraud upon the public with and under the supervision of plaintiff Elizalde.

Held:

Unique Set-up on procedural problem

We are confronted here with a situation wherein an intervenor who made common cause with the defendants moved to dismiss the complaint after filing an answer in intervention and after the original defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint had been denied. What is more striking is the fact that the same intervenor sought the dismissal of a complaint where its interest is not apparent. Moreover, the intervenor founded its motion to dismiss on an extraneous matter which is not even obliquely alluded to in the complaint.

With this unique set-up, we cannot subscribe to private respondents' contention that the resolution of this petition is foreclosed by the principle of res judicata.

While it is true that the instant petition and that in G.R. No. 87248 revolve around the issue of whether or not the lower court correctly denied the motion to dismiss the complaint in Civil Case No. Q-88-1028, there is an aspect of the case which takes it out of the ambit of the principle of res judicata.

The said principle applies when there is, among others, identity of parties and subject matter in two cases. Concededly, the fact that UP is the petitioner herein while Salazar and Bailen were the petitioners in G.R. No. 87248 is not a hindrance to the application of res judicata because the situation is akin to the adding of other parties to a case which had been finally resolved in a previous one. UP was not an original party-defendant in Civil Case No. Q-88-1028, but it intervened and made common cause with Bailen and Salazar in alleging that the case should be dismissed in order to hold inviolate academic freedom, both individual and institutional. There is, therefore, a resultant substantial identity of parties, as both UP, on the one hand, and Bailen and Salazar, on the other hand, represent the same interests in the two petitions.

Following the provisions of Section 5, Rule 16 of the Rules of Court which states that any of the grounds for dismissal provided for in Section I of the same Rule "except improper venue, may be pleaded as an affirmative defense," UP filed a motion for a preliminary hearing on the special defenses, specifically lack of cause of action and lack of jurisdiction over the nature of the action which it pleaded in its answer in intervention. As Section 5 provides, the result would be the same — "as if a motion to dismiss had been filed." It was the lower court's Order of May 15, 1989 ascribing no merit to UP's special defenses, which was first presented to this Court for nullification on the ground of grave abuse of discretion, through the petition for certiorari and prohibition docketed as G.R. No. 88664. The petition having been referred to the Court of Appeals, the propriety of the same Order of May 15, 1989 was resolved against UP by said appellate court on March 12, 1991.

Thus, to hold that res judicata applies to herein facts would be stretching to its limits the requirement of identity of subject matter. Moreover, the fact that the resolution of Civil Case No. Q-88-1028 would inevitably create an impact, not only on the academic community but also on the cultural minorities, we need to scrutinize more closely the validity of the Order denying the motion to dismiss. It bears stressing that res judicata may not be held applicable where justice may have to be sacrificed for the rigid rules of technicality.

Academic freedom vs legal procedures

As its first ground for the allowance of the petition, UP contends that the allegations in the complaint regarding the acts and statements of Bailen and Salazar are "protected by the mantle of the institutional academic freedom of UP and are therefore privileged communications which cannot give rise to any cause of action for damages under Article 26 of the Civil Code in favor of the herein private respondents."

Actually, this ground is a restatement of the two affirmative defenses cited by the petitioner in its answer in intervention. The lower court and the Court of Appeals correctly interpreted these defenses as falling within the purview of Section 1(g), Rule 16 of the Rules of Court which considers as a ground for a motion to dismiss failure of the complaint to state a cause of action.

On the other hand, a cause of action against Bailen and Salazar can be made out from the complaint: their acts and utterances allegedly besmirched the reputation of the plaintiffs as they were shown therein to have staged a fraud. The fact that the "hoax" was played up in the media allegedly aggravated the situation.

This is not to say, however, that UP's intervention was improper. In fact, it eventually proned to be necessary. Coming to the defense of its faculty members, it had to prove that the alleged damaging acts and utterances of Bailen and Salazar were circumscribed by the constitutionally-protected principle of academic freedom. However, it should have championed the cause of Bailen and Salazar in the course of the trial of the case.

This procedural lapse, notwithstanding, no irremediable injury has been inflicted on the petitioner as, during the trial, it may still invoke and prove the special defense of institutional academic freedom as defined in Tangonan v. Paño and in Garcia v. The Faculty Admission Committee, Loyola School of Theology.

Since Bailen and Salazar had defaulted and thereby forfeited their right to notice of subsequent proceedings and to participate in the trial, petitioner's answer in intervention shall be the gauge in determining whether issues have been joined. The fact that the defenses raised in said answer were denied grounds for a motion to dismiss does not affect their value as affirmative defenses in an answer to a complaint within the purview of Section 5(b), Rule 6 of the Rules of Court. The Order of May 15, 1989 merely "denied" petitioner's affirmative defenses as grounds for a motion to dismiss. Moreover, under Section 4, Rule 18 of the Rules of Court, the failure of some defendants to answer cannot prevent the court from trying the case noon the answer filed and thereafter rendering judgment on the basis of the evidence presented.

Scientific breakthrough vs legal procedures

With respect to the prayer of the complaint for "judgment declaring plaintiff Tasadays to be a distinct ethnic community within the territory defined under Presidential Proclamation No. 995" the lower court is cautioned that the same is akin to a prayer for a judicial declaration of Philippine citizenship which may not be granted in a petition for declaratory relief. 26 As private respondents themselves declare in their comment, "(t)he complaint was filed mainly to vindicate plaintiffs' dignity and honor, and to protect them from further vexation.

More explicitly in their comment in CA-G.R. SP No. 18074 before the Court of Appeals, they declared:

Plaintiffs below do not ask the court to rule on so-called scientific or anthropological issues, nor to interpret scientific or anthropological findings pertaining to the Tasaday. They merely ask the court to find from the evidence to be presented below — Whether or not Bailen and Salazar infringed on plaintiffs' civil and human rights when they maliciously and falsely spoke and intrigued to present plaintiffs Tasaday as fakers and impostors collaborating in a hoax or fraud upon the public with and under the supervision of plaintiff Elizalde.

Indeed, it is not the province of the court to make pronouncements on matters beyond its ken and expertise. To be sure, in resolving the complaint for damages, the court may find congruence in what is justiciable and what falls within the field of the sciences. Still, it is best to keep in mind that its proper role and function is the determination of legal issues.

WHEREFORE, the questioned Order of the lower court and the Decision of the Court of Appeals are hereby AFFIRMED. The lower court is directed to PROCEED with the hearing of the case with DISPATCH even as it observes caution in the resolution of Civil Case No. Q-88-1028. No-costs.

SO ORDERED.

Case Digest by cbcabalza 4/13/11

Monday, April 11, 2011

Bayan Muna by Ocampo, Beltran, & Maza v. Alberto Romulo & Blas Ople

Chester Cabalza recommends his visitors to please read the original & full text of the case cited. Xie xie!

EN BANC

G.R. No. 159618 February 1, 2011

BAYAN MUNA, as represented by Rep. SATUR OCAMPO, Rep. CRISPIN BELTRAN, and Rep. LIZA L. MAZA, Petitioner,
vs.
ALBERTO ROMULO, in his capacity as Executive Secretary, and BLAS F. OPLE, in his capacity as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Respondents.

Facts:


Petitioner Bayan Muna is a duly registered party-list group established to represent the marginalized sectors of society. Respondent Blas F. Ople, now deceased, was the Secretary of Foreign Affairs during the period material to this case. Respondent Alberto Romulo was impleaded in his capacity as then Executive Secretary.

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

Having a key determinative bearing on this case is the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC) with "the power to exercise its jurisdiction over persons for the most serious crimes of international concern x x x and shall be complementary to the national criminal jurisdictions." The serious crimes adverted to cover those considered grave under international law, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression.

On December 28, 2000, the RP, through Charge d’Affaires Enrique A. Manalo, signed the Rome Statute which, by its terms, is "subject to ratification, acceptance or approval" by the signatory states. As of the filing of the instant petition, only 92 out of the 139 signatory countries appear to have completed the ratification, approval and concurrence process. The Philippines is not among the 92.

RP-US Non Surrender Agreement

On May 9, 2003, then Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone sent US Embassy Note No. 0470 to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) proposing the terms of the non-surrender bilateral agreement between the USA and the RP.

Via Exchange of Notes No. BFO-028-037 dated May 13, 2003 (E/N BFO-028-03, hereinafter), the RP, represented by then DFA Secretary Ople, agreed with and accepted the US proposals embodied under the US Embassy Note adverted to and put in effect the Agreement with the US government. In esse, the Agreement aims to protect what it refers to and defines as "persons" of the RP and US from frivolous and harassment suits that might be brought against them in international tribunals.It is reflective of the increasing pace of the strategic security and defense partnership between the two countries. As of May 2, 2003, similar bilateral agreements have been effected by and between the US and 33 other countries.

The Agreement pertinently provides as follows:

1. For purposes of this Agreement, "persons" are current or former Government officials, employees (including contractors), or military personnel or nationals of one Party.

2. Persons of one Party present in the territory of the other shall not, absent the express consent of the first Party,

(a) be surrendered or transferred by any means to any international tribunal for any purpose, unless such tribunal has been established by the UN Security Council, or

(b) be surrendered or transferred by any means to any other entity or third country, or expelled to a third country, for the purpose of surrender to or transfer to any international tribunal, unless such tribunal has been established by the UN Security Council.

3. When the [US] extradites, surrenders, or otherwise transfers a person of the Philippines to a third country, the [US] will not agree to the surrender or transfer of that person by the third country to any international tribunal, unless such tribunal has been established by the UN Security Council, absent the express consent of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines [GRP].

4. When the [GRP] extradites, surrenders, or otherwise transfers a person of the [USA] to a third country, the [GRP] will not agree to the surrender or transfer of that person by the third country to any international tribunal, unless such tribunal has been established by the UN Security Council, absent the express consent of the Government of the [US].

5. This Agreement shall remain in force until one year after the date on which one party notifies the other of its intent to terminate the Agreement. The provisions of this Agreement shall continue to apply with respect to any act occurring, or any allegation arising, before the effective date of termination.

In response to a query of then Solicitor General Alfredo L. Benipayo on the status of the non-surrender agreement, Ambassador Ricciardone replied in his letter of October 28, 2003 that the exchange of diplomatic notes constituted a legally binding agreement under international law; and that, under US law, the said agreement did not require the advice and consent of the US Senate.

In this proceeding, petitioner imputes grave abuse of discretion to respondents in concluding and ratifying the Agreement and prays that it be struck down as unconstitutional, or at least declared as without force and effect.

For their part, respondents question petitioner’s standing to maintain a suit and counter that the Agreement, being in the nature of an executive agreement, does not require Senate concurrence for its efficacy. And for reasons detailed in their comment, respondents assert the constitutionality of the Agreement.

Issues

1)Whether the Philippine President and his DFA Secretary gravely abused their discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction for concluding the RP-US Non Surrender Agreement when the GRP has already signed the Rome of Statute of the ICC, although it is pending for ratification by the Senate.

2)Whether the RP-US Non Surrender Agreement is void ab initio for contracting obligations that are either immoral or otherwise at variance with universally recognized principles of International law.

3)Whether the said agreement is valid, binding, and effective without the concurrence of at least 2/3 of all the members of the Senate.

Held:

This petition is bereft of merit.

Procedural Issue: Locus Standi of Petitioner

Petitioner, through its three party-list representatives, contends that the issue of the validity or invalidity of the Agreement carries with it constitutional significance and is of paramount importance that justifies its standing. Cited in this regard is what is usually referred to as the emergency powers cases, in which ordinary citizens and taxpayers were accorded the personality to question the constitutionality of executive issuances.

Locus standi is "a right of appearance in a court of justice on a given question." Specifically, it is "a party’s personal and substantial interest in a case where he has sustained or will sustain direct injury as a result" of the act being challenged, and "calls for more than just a generalized grievance."

Locus standi, however, is merely a matter of procedure and it has been recognized that, in some cases, suits are not brought by parties who have been personally injured by the operation of a law or any other government act, but by concerned citizens, taxpayers, or voters who actually sue in the public interest.

Consequently, in a catena of cases, this Court has invariably adopted a liberal stance on locus standi.

In the case at bar, petitioner’s representatives have complied with the qualifying conditions or specific requirements exacted under the locus standi rule. As citizens, their interest in the subject matter of the petition is direct and personal. At the very least, their assertions questioning the Agreement are made of a public right, i.e., to ascertain that the Agreement did not go against established national policies, practices, and obligations bearing on the State’s obligation to the community of nations.

At any event, the primordial importance to Filipino citizens in general of the issue at hand impels the Court to brush aside the procedural barrier posed by the traditional requirement of locus standi. The Court may relax the standing requirements and allow a suit to prosper even where there is no direct injury to the party claiming the right of judicial review.

Validity of the RP-US Non Surrender Agreement

The petitioners’ contention––perhaps taken unaware of certain well-recognized international doctrines, practices, and jargons––is untenable. One of these is the doctrine of incorporation, as expressed in Section 2, Article II of the Constitution, wherein the Philippines adopts the generally accepted principles of international law and international jurisprudence as part of the law of the land and adheres to the policy of peace, cooperation, and amity with all nations. An exchange of notes falls "into the category of inter-governmental agreements," which is an internationally accepted form of international agreement. The United Nations Treaty Collections (Treaty Reference Guide) defines the term as follows:

In another perspective, the terms "exchange of notes" and "executive agreements" have been used interchangeably, exchange of notes being considered a form of executive agreement that becomes binding through executive action. On the other hand, executive agreements concluded by the President "sometimes take the form of exchange of notes and at other times that of more formal documents denominated ‘agreements’ or ‘protocols.’"

It is fairly clear from the foregoing disquisition that E/N BFO-028-03––be it viewed as the Non-Surrender Agreement itself, or as an integral instrument of acceptance thereof or as consent to be bound––is a recognized mode of concluding a legally binding international written contract among nations.

Senate Concurrence Not Required

Article 2 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties defines a treaty as "an international agreement concluded between states in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation." International agreements may be in the form of (1) treaties that require legislative concurrence after executive ratification; or (2) executive agreements that are similar to treaties, except that they do not require legislative concurrence and are usually less formal and deal with a narrower range of subject matters than treaties.

Under international law, there is no difference between treaties and executive agreements in terms of their binding effects on the contracting states concerned, as long as the negotiating functionaries have remained within their powers. Neither, on the domestic sphere, can one be held valid if it violates the Constitution.

Pressing its point, petitioner submits that the subject of the Agreement does not fall under any of the subject-categories that are enumerated in the Eastern Sea Trading case, and that may be covered by an executive agreement, such as commercial/consular relations, most-favored nation rights, patent rights, trademark and copyright protection, postal and navigation arrangements and settlement of claims.

Verily, the matter of form takes a back seat when it comes to effectiveness and binding effect of the enforcement of a treaty or an executive agreement, as the parties in either international agreement each labor under the pacta sunt servanda principle.

As may be noted, almost half a century has elapsed since the Court rendered its decision in Eastern Sea Trading. Since then, the conduct of foreign affairs has become more complex and the domain of international law wider, as to include such subjects as human rights, the environment, and the sea. In fact, in the US alone, the executive agreements executed by its President from 1980 to 2000 covered subjects such as defense, trade, scientific cooperation, aviation, atomic energy, environmental cooperation, peace corps, arms limitation, and nuclear safety, among others. Surely, the enumeration in Eastern Sea Trading cannot circumscribe the option of each state on the matter of which the international agreement format would be convenient to serve its best interest.

Considering the above discussion, the Court need not belabor at length the third main issue raised, referring to the validity and effectivity of the Agreement without the concurrence by at least two-thirds of all the members of the Senate. The Court has, in Eastern Sea Trading, as reiterated in Bayan, given recognition to the obligatory effect of executive agreements without the concurrence of the Senate:
The right of the Executive to enter into binding agreements without the necessity of subsequent Congressional approval has been confirmed by long usage. From the earliest days of our history, we have entered executive agreements covering such subjects as commercial and consular relations, most favored-nation rights, patent rights, trademark and copyright protection, postal and navigation arrangements and the settlement of claims. The validity of these has never been seriously questioned by our courts.

The Agreement Not in Contravention of the Rome Statute


It is the petitioner’s next contention that the Agreement undermines the establishment of the ICC and is null and void insofar as it unduly restricts the ICC’s jurisdiction and infringes upon the effectivity of the Rome Statute. Petitioner posits that the Agreement was constituted solely for the purpose of providing individuals or groups of individuals with immunity from the jurisdiction of the ICC; and such grant of immunity through non-surrender agreements allegedly does not legitimately fall within the scope of Art. 98 of the Rome Statute. It concludes that state parties with non-surrender agreements are prevented from meeting their obligations under the Rome Statute, thereby constituting a breach of Arts. 27,86, 89 and 90 thereof.

Petitioner stresses that the overall object and purpose of the Rome Statute is to ensure that those responsible for the worst possible crimes are brought to justice in all cases, primarily by states, but as a last resort, by the ICC; thus, any agreement—like the non-surrender agreement—that precludes the ICC from exercising its complementary function of acting when a state is unable to or unwilling to do so, defeats the object and purpose of the Rome Statute.

Petitioner would add that the President and the DFA Secretary, as representatives of a signatory of the Rome Statute, are obliged by the imperatives of good faith to refrain from performing acts that substantially devalue the purpose and object of the Statute, as signed. Adding a nullifying ingredient to the Agreement, according to petitioner, is the fact that it has an immoral purpose or is otherwise at variance with a priorly executed treaty.

Sovereignty Limited by International Agreements

Petitioner next argues that the RP has, through the Agreement, abdicated its sovereignty by bargaining away the jurisdiction of the ICC to prosecute US nationals, government officials/employees or military personnel who commit serious crimes of international concerns in the Philippines. Formulating petitioner’s argument a bit differently, the RP, by entering into the Agreement, does thereby abdicate its sovereignty, abdication being done by its waiving or abandoning its right to seek recourse through the Rome Statute of the ICC for erring Americans committing international crimes in the country.

We are not persuaded. As it were, the Agreement is but a form of affirmance and confirmance of the Philippines’ national criminal jurisdiction. National criminal jurisdiction being primary, as explained above, it is always the responsibility and within the prerogative of the RP either to prosecute criminal offenses equally covered by the Rome Statute or to accede to the jurisdiction of the ICC. Thus, the Philippines may decide to try "persons" of the US, as the term is understood in the Agreement, under our national criminal justice system. Or it may opt not to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over its erring citizens or over US "persons" committing high crimes in the country and defer to the secondary criminal jurisdiction of the ICC over them. As to "persons" of the US whom the Philippines refuses to prosecute, the country would, in effect, accord discretion to the US to exercise either its national criminal jurisdiction over the "person" concerned or to give its consent to the referral of the matter to the ICC for trial. In the same breath, the US must extend the same privilege to the Philippines with respect to "persons" of the RP committing high crimes within US territorial jurisdiction.

In the context of the Constitution, there can be no serious objection to the Philippines agreeing to undertake the things set forth in the Agreement. Surely, one State can agree to waive jurisdiction—to the extent agreed upon—to subjects of another State due to the recognition of the principle of extraterritorial immunity.
Agreement Not Immoral/Not at Variance with Principles of International Law
Petitioner urges that the Agreement be struck down as void ab initio for imposing immoral obligations and/or being at variance with allegedly universally recognized principles of international law. The immoral aspect proceeds from the fact that the Agreement, as petitioner would put it, "leaves criminals immune from responsibility for unimaginable atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity; it precludes our country from delivering an American criminal to the [ICC].

The above argument is a kind of recycling of petitioner’s earlier position, which, as already discussed, contends that the RP, by entering into the Agreement, virtually abdicated its sovereignty and in the process undermined its treaty obligations under the Rome Statute, contrary to international law principles.

The Court is not persuaded. Suffice it to state in this regard that the non-surrender agreement, as aptly described by the Solicitor General, "is an assertion by the Philippines of its desire to try and punish crimes under its national law. x x x The agreement is a recognition of the primacy and competence of the country’s judiciary to try offenses under its national criminal laws and dispense justice fairly and judiciously."

No Grave Abuse of Discretion

Petitioner’s final point revolves around the necessity of the Senate’s concurrence in the Agreement. And without specifically saying so, petitioner would argue that the non-surrender agreement was executed by the President, thru the DFA Secretary, in grave abuse of discretion.

By constitutional fiat and by the nature of his or her office, the President, as head of state and government, is the sole organ and authority in the external affairs of the country. The Constitution vests in the President the power to enter into international agreements, subject, in appropriate cases, to the required concurrence votes of the Senate. But as earlier indicated, executive agreements may be validly entered into without such concurrence. As the President wields vast powers and influence, her conduct in the external affairs of the nation is, as Bayan would put it, "executive altogether." The right of the President to enter into or ratify binding executive agreements has been confirmed by long practice.

Agreement Need Not Be in the Form of a Treaty

On December 11, 2009, then President Arroyo signed into law Republic Act No. (RA) 9851, otherwise known as the "Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity." Sec. 17 of RA 9851, particularly the second paragraph thereof, provides:

Section 17. Jurisdiction. In the interest of justice, the relevant Philippine authorities may dispense with the investigation or prosecution of a crime punishable under this Act if another court or international tribunal is already conducting the investigation or undertaking the prosecution of such crime. Instead, the authorities may surrender or extradite suspected or accused persons in the Philippines to the appropriate international court, if any, or to another State pursuant to the applicable extradition laws and treaties.

A view is advanced that the Agreement amends existing municipal laws on the State’s obligation in relation to grave crimes against the law of nations, i.e., genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Relying on the above-quoted statutory proviso, the view posits that the Philippine is required to surrender to the proper international tribunal those persons accused of the grave crimes defined under RA 9851, if it does not exercise its primary jurisdiction to prosecute them.

The basic premise rests on the interpretation that if it does not decide to prosecute a foreign national for violations of RA 9851, the Philippines has only two options, to wit: (1) surrender the accused to the proper international tribunal; or (2) surrender the accused to another State if such surrender is "pursuant to the applicable extradition laws and treaties." But the Philippines may exercise these options only in cases where "another court or international tribunal is already conducting the investigation or undertaking the prosecution of such crime;" otherwise, the Philippines must prosecute the crime before its own courts pursuant to RA 9851.

Posing the situation of a US national under prosecution by an international tribunal for any crime under RA 9851, the Philippines has the option to surrender such US national to the international tribunal if it decides not to prosecute such US national here.

Prescinding from the foregoing premises, the view thus advanced considers the Agreement inefficacious, unless it is embodied in a treaty duly ratified with the concurrence of the Senate, the theory being that a Senate- ratified treaty partakes of the nature of a municipal law that can amend or supersede another law, in this instance Sec. 17 of RA 9851 and the status of the Rome Statute as constitutive of enforceable domestic law under Sec. 2, Art. II of the Constitution.

Far from it, as earlier explained, the Agreement does not undermine the Rome Statute as the former merely reinforces the primacy of the national jurisdiction of the US and the Philippines in prosecuting criminal offenses committed by their respective citizens and military personnel, among others. The jurisdiction of the ICC pursuant to the Rome Statute over high crimes indicated thereat is clearly and unmistakably complementary to the national criminal jurisdiction of the signatory states.

Moreover, RA 9851 clearly: (1) defines and establishes the crimes against international humanitarian law, genocide and other crimes against humanity; (2) provides penal sanctions and criminal liability for their commission; and (3) establishes special courts for the prosecution of these crimes and for the State to exercise primary criminal jurisdiction. Nowhere in RA 9851 is there a proviso that goes against the tenor of the Agreement.

The view makes much of the above quoted second par. of Sec. 17, RA 9851 as requiring the Philippine State to surrender to the proper international tribunal those persons accused of crimes sanctioned under said law if it does not exercise its primary jurisdiction to prosecute such persons. This view is not entirely correct, for the above quoted proviso clearly provides discretion to the Philippine State on whether to surrender or not a person accused of the crimes under RA 9851. The statutory proviso uses the word "may." It is settled doctrine in statutory construction that the word "may" denotes discretion, and cannot be construed as having mandatory effect. Thus, the pertinent second pararagraph of Sec. 17, RA 9851 is simply permissive on the part of the Philippine State.

Besides, even granting that the surrender of a person is mandatorily required when the Philippines does not exercise its primary jurisdiction in cases where "another court or international tribunal is already conducting the investigation or undertaking the prosecution of such crime," still, the tenor of the Agreement is not repugnant to Sec. 17 of RA 9851. Said legal proviso aptly provides that the surrender may be made "to another State pursuant to the applicable extradition laws and treaties."

Ruling:

Further, the Rome Statute itself rejects the concept of universal jurisdiction over the crimes enumerated therein as evidenced by it requiring State consent. Even further, the Rome Statute specifically and unequivocally requires that: "This Statute is subject to ratification, acceptance or approval by signatory States." These clearly negate the argument that such has already attained customary status.
More importantly, an act of the executive branch with a foreign government must be afforded great respect. The power to enter into executive agreements has long been recognized to be lodged with the President. In light of the above consideration, the position or view that the challenged RP-US Non-Surrender Agreement ought to be in the form of a treaty, to be effective, has to be rejected.

WHEREFORE, the petition for certiorari, mandamus and prohibition is hereby DISMISSED for lack of merit. No costs. SO ORDERED.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Virtual Ethnography 101: Twenty Love Stories while Riding the Light Rail Transit One


by Chester Cabalza

Todo pasa y todo queda,
Pero lo nuestro es pasar,
Pasiar hacienda caminos,
Caminos sobre la mar.


- Poem by Antonio Mercado

Lahat ay dadaan at lahat ay maiiwan,
Pero tayo ay dadaan,
Dadaang gumagawa ng daanan,
Dadaan sa ibabaw ng karagatan.


Roosevelt (Quezon City) - a young couple hugs each other while his girlfriend cries softly as the LRT couches move its way ahead to the next station. It was sunny. The panorama of light traffic below, from a birds eye view, has not hindered the petite girlfriend from weeping; and leaning to his broad shoulder, while she sobs quietly past the fast distance before a huge glass window of the train. Few passengers ride the new couches of LRT from the extended stations of the first light rail train in the country.

Balintawak (Quezon City) – the light rail transit stops as new passengers hitch but only two adults have come out. The door closes silently. Suddenly, the boyfriend whispers words to her ears. Perhaps saying “am sorry…” or maybe “…i love you,” to her. She mumbles words of endearment in return. As I look at them both, the young lass composes on her seat. She looks frail and worried. Still young, maybe 16 or 17 years old, perhaps a Korean national, postured with her K-pop fashion. While her boyfriend, in his 20s, an Iranian nursing student perhaps from Manila Central University, wearing the regular white hospital uniform, the usual sightings I see among commuting number of Persian students from MCU. I have thought that after the Korean invasion lately whose students wanted to learn English from Filipinos, now here come the Persians who would want to study nursing, dentistry, and medicine from us.

Monumento (Caloocan City)
– noises reverberated. The young couple moves out from the couch. A tsunami of passengers buzzes in, like bees buzzing with their blaring conversations. This time, I’ve noticed new couples – showing public display of affection. Diverse stories pops up inside from the couch. An old lady says her rosary while eyes closed. Kids naughtily play with fellow kids. A group of guys chuckles loudly. My ears begin to swell from boisterous voices. From the window, I've viewed the Our Lady of Grace Parish, and as the train moves slowly, I try to appreciate sunlight inside the couch.

5th Avenue (Caloocan City) – a dominating Taoist temple is sighted from afar. A group of Filipino-Chinese ride the LRT, while conversing in their vernacular language. They talk about business, yup, business above everything else. In my serene moment, my eyes close and say a little prayer to my kid angel, as the train passes by the Chinese cemetery.

R. Papa (Manila City) – my wife tells story to me as we still see the vast portion of the Chinese and Laloma cemetery. However, passengers begin to increase. I see ladies with kids who prefer to sit at the segregated portion of the train - exclusively for them. Various people – professionals, students, indigent passengers, middle class professionals, hurriedly step inside the couches of the LRT.

Abad Santos (Manila City) – still in Manila. Thinking aloud of some inconveniences riding the public transport. Albeit, better it here than commuting the long and unruly road from Monumento to Baclaran. Below, the smell seems bad plus awful traffic would irritate your senses. Undisciplined folks from Monumento to Manila to Pasay – and the entire Taft avenue sometimes makes me complain about the incompetent mayors these three big cities have elected. The streets are dirty and it smells foul. Sometimes, you wonder why they can’t make the streets physically tidy and clean. To think that great universities of UP Manila, De La Salle, Arellano University, and more are plunked beside this highway. My love affair with these three highly-urbanized cities ceases to sustain my appreciation.

Bluementritt (Manila City) – more noise reverberate in our ears as PNR trains below the elevated LRT pass by. The public market is alive, and afar can be seen the Chinese Medical Hospital. Crazy lovers keep displaying their affection inside the train.

Tayuman (Manila City) – hospitals are more seen from above. There are passengers descending the couches who would go to the San Lazaro Hippodrome, now SM City San Lazaro; the closest link to University of Santo Tomas.

Bambang (Manila City) – herein, Sta. Cruz, Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, San Lazaro Hospital, and can also be a link to the oldest university in Asia, the UST.

Doroteo Jose (Manila City) – this time students from the university belt are riding. Some carry with them shopping items from Isetann Shopping Center, others just roam around Quiapo, the major link to the University Belt. This also serves as the connection to the LRT 2 purple line - the most clean and convenient light rail trains in Metro Manila!

Carriedo (Manila City) – lovers and faithfuls of the Nazareno deem this is their destination. The direct link among pilgrims of the Quiapo Church; and a colorful world of flea market and stand by among culture enthusiast and wannabe photographers – this is the station to be. Nonetheless, this also serves as the connection to the Pasig River Ferry Line via the Escolta Station.

Central Terminal (Manila City) – my eyes move faster than usual. Sunny day as it is, I feel amused to see a ferry plying the now navigable waters of the Pasig river. Images of the China town and the old beauty of Manila can be seen from the moving train above. A lot of landmarks can be seen to and from this station - Ermita, Arroceros, Pasig River, Intramuros, Manila Metropolitan Theater, the Clock on top of the tower and the life size murals of Bonifacio beside the Manila City Hall, Office of the Ombudsman, National Museum of the Philippines, Department of Labor and Employment, Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, SM City Manila, Mehan Garden. This is also the closest link to the University Belt which includes schools such as Colegio De San Juan de Letran, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), Mapua Institute of Technology, Lyceum of the Philippines University. This also serves as the connection to the Pasig River Ferry Line via the Lawton Station

United Nations (Manila City) – the heart of Manila lies in this station. It looks urbane and cosmopolitan. Sometimes cheeky and sultry – however, it could also be deceiving. This is the best way to the US embassy. Smart students from Manila Science high school often sighted here. Other passengers would probably go to Rizal’s park, Luneta, DOT, the Manila Ocean Park, or perhaps to Pearl Manila Hotel. Most students who ride from this station are from academic institutions like Adamson Univesity and Emilio Aguinaldo.

Pedro Gil (Manila City) – new lovers come inside the couch. Chatting and tweeting their sweet romances. Medical students and medical personnel from UP-PGH Manila dominate the passengers, looking tired and toxic, perhaps weary from graveyard duty.

Quirino Avenue (Manila City) – soon the air shifted as we arrive in this station. Party people from last night’s gig from Malate, ride this public transport. Then kids ferrying from Monumento get excited as they come down the ride, excited to their destination at Manila zoo.

Vito Cruz (Manila City) – then young couples and students get ready as they approach DLSU’s neo-classical façade. They descend hurriedly, perhaps some of them late from their class at Arellano University School of Law, or perhaps at La Salle. A renovated university mall can be seen from the inside couches, besides the happily imposing McDonalds, where most students around the vicinity hang out.

Gil Puyat (Pasay City) - high rise skyscrapers from Makati City can be peeked from the large glass windows of this popularly known Buendia station. I’ve noticed passengers going to the southern province step down here.

Libertad (Pasay City) – now bored on board while my eyes reads all the Spanish poems translated into either English or Filipino. The old lady finishes saying her rosary and her long prayer. She’s now preparing herself to her final destination at Baclaran church.

EDSA (Pasay City) – the crossing beeps my sanity the way traffic is handled on the ground. A lover besides us begins to quarrel as they go down to the EDSA station. The girlfriend wants to go to SM MOA while the boyfriend wants to go to Greenbelt or Megamall via the MRT. I hope they would mend their differences as soon as they go out the couches.

Baclaran (Pasay City) - after an hour of travel above the winding and elevated rail, passing by three cities with their own distinct landmarks, sights, sounds, and smell. Finally, the final destination to attend mass at the miraculous Baclaran church would be accomplished. And after the mass, perhaps i would write ethnography about my Baclaran musing…

Good News: From texting capital to leader in (Inter)networking

By Riza T. Olchondra

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:58:00 09/20/2008
Source: http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20080920-161755/RP-From-texting-capital-to-leader-in-Internetworking


MANILA, Philippines—Yup, we socialize to the max.

The Philippines not only has the reputation as the texting capital of the world, with one billion text messages sent daily, but it also has the highest number of Internet users in the 16 to 64 age group who join social networking groups.

In Universal McCann’s study on social media Wave 3 report, the Philippines had the highest penetration of social networking among Internet users at 83.1 percent, compared with the global average of 57.5 percent.

Social networking is practiced by Web based communities of people who share interests and activities. Users have a variety of ways to interact, such as e-mail, instant messaging services and blogs. Some examples are Multiply, Friendster, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Live Journal and Blogs.

Favorite reading fare

The Philippines also had the second highest incidence of blog-reading among Internet users at 90.3 percent. South Korea topped the blog readership list at 92.1 percent. The global average was 72.8 percent.

All over the world, including the Philippines and South Korea, personal blogs or diary blogs are the favorite reading fare.

About 65.8 percent of Filipino Internet users write blogs, compared with China which topped the survey at 70.3 percent. Globally, 44.8 percent of Internet users blog, mostly about themselves.

Penetration only 15%

This means that Filipinos prefer to read about other people more than write blogs about themselves—but so does the rest of the world.

It must be noted, though, that Internet penetration in the Philippines was relatively low—around 15 percent—compared to cell phone penetration of more than 60 percent. There’s definitely a lot of room for growth.

Still, Universal McCann said its study indicated that blogs and social networks were becoming “mainstream” media and were a valid platform for spreading information.
The study also showed that there was a wealth of opportunities for traditional media publishers as well as advertisers to explore.

But more importantly, it indicated that consumers were no longer passive—they had more control on how they consume content. They also had more ways of telling other people about their views on products, services, people and events.

Universal McCann’s study was undertaken in March 2008 among 17,000 respondents in 29 countries. Those included in the study were Internet users 16 to 54 years old who accessed the World Wide Web every day or every other day. With Inquirer Research

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Virtual Ethnography 101: The Hall of Masters (National Museum of the Filipino People)

As part of the weekly exercises of my graduate students in Anthropology 225: Philippine Society and Culture, I wanted my students to explore places and write ethnography using the method of participation-observation.

I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.

Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.


Ethnography by Dolf Cheng

1:13 pm: The quiet, air-conditioned, two storey-high great hall was suddenly broken by a barrage of noise from students from Sapang Palay National High School in Bulacan. Around 300 students from a mixture of one to four formed a scattered line to tour and witness the Spoliarium (often misspelled Spolarium), a national cultural treasure by Filipino artist Juan Luna which garnered a gold medal in 1884 at the Explosicion Nacional de Barcelona.

They passed by this national treasure nonchalantly often posing for photographs from cellphones and digicams with a seeming feeling of “I was here.” About 80 percent of these high school girls and boys were dressed with the fashion so reminiscent of American MTVs. It is amusing to note today’s western dressing style in stark contrast with the conservative “cover-all, dress like a fliffball” 19th century Spanish colonial dresses and suits seen from the painting of Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo in the same great hall.

The Hall of Masters houses the paintings both by Hidalgo and Juan Luna that shows their European influences while away in Madrid and Rome among other European cities. Unfortunately, the only influences Filipino artists of this 21st century are from the internet and media which developed into self-expressionism with a lesser cultural context behind it, however, this is another story for another time.

The Sapang Palay high schoolers were ushered into the hall hurriedly as they were ushered out to accommodate each and everyone. It seemed as if just being in the same room with the great masters was enough to meld them, albeit temporarily, with the society, culture, and rich history of the past. The teachers have not even bothered to explain how a single painting like the Spoliarium threads into our Philippine history and digs into our Filipino roots during the Spanish colonialism.

I was clearly disappointed with this field trip experience that ended with tour guides warnings of “Don’t touch the paintings,” “Don’t use flash in your camera,” and “Guys, faster, hurry up!” The barrage of noise from these Bulacan adolescents ended the 20 minutes later and I found out later from a high school teacher that they came in 26 buses! This somehow (comfortably) justified the need for the tour guides to hastily and effectively do their jobs to accommodate everyone.

1:45 pm: A group of eight undergraduates from De La Salle University walked into the Hall. They were recommended to visit the National Museum by their Humanities professor. “What piece are you most drawn to in this hall?” is almost answered with the most obvious choice. Yet, when I proceeded to ask one of the students named Ira what he thinks of the Spoliarium. He explained that the woman wearing a blue toga of the times represents the Philippines. Just like the highschoolers of Bulacan, they seem to be more engrossed with posing with the masterpiece in the background.

2:30 pm: I knew Ali from my last visit to the National Museum just three days ago on a Sunday. He was quite free from entertaining school students/visitors during Sundays and had the liberty to wholly explain both the literal meaning and the interpretation made by Dr. Jose Rizal on the Spoliarium. The whole painting measuring four meters in height and seven meters in width depicts dead gladiators being cleared off and discarded in room (called Spoliarium). The entire painting is in dark colors with two obvious and contrasting colors: intense red and calming blue. On the far left side, there is a weeping woman dressed in blue kneeling before fallen beasts seemingly looking for dead family members before they are burned in the furnace. In the middle painting are dead warriors in red cloths around their torsos being dragged off by chains to a corner to be piled up for disposal. Near the soldiers are two lepers waiting at their chance to drink from the fresh blood in their belief of a cure for their skin affliction. Beside the two lepers are two struggling people, one old and the other younger. The two struggling men are waiting for their chance to strip these gladiators of their precious armour. And on the far right are spectators seemingly coming to this room to witness the final destination of these warriors. They all seem to be looking elsewhere and are not singly focused on the main centerpiece being the dead gladiators. This is the literal meaning of the Spoliarium.

Ali who recently graduated from PUP with a degree in A.B. history proceeded to tell me that Juan Luna did not actually oppose the socio-political interpretation of Jose Rizal toward the painting. Ali proceeded to tell me that the gladiators are interpreted as Filipino men who died for their country, the oppressed, and the victims of the Spanish colonialism. Red stands for blood that is shed but at the same time stands for courage and valor shown by Filipino men despite the darkness that looms in the whole society as interpreted by the darkness of the whole painting. The sole color of hope and faith is depicted in the woman in blue. She weeps for her country and looks for pieces, for the bodies of slain men (and women), hoping to retrieve them and restore their dignity. The two lepers are interpreted as Filipinos who benefit and exploit from less fortunate fellow Filipinos by occupying positions of power for the Spaniards. The two strugglers are opportunists who care only for selfish and self-enrichment purposes. Finally, the spectators are interpreted as other European countries who clearly know the situation in the Philippines but look away uninvolved.

I am amazed by Ali, the museum guide, with his rich recall of this particular history behind the massive painting of the Spoliarium. He is envisioning a second course of either law or architecture and is keen at setting this goal for himself.

2:45 pm: Recalling Ali’s share of knowledge the previous Sunday, I chanced upon two professional spectators in side the hall who introduced themselves as art lovers. I asked them, curiously, why they were drawn to this particular piece (Spoliarium). Their replies took me quite by surprise. They had witnessed the great masterpiece when they were high school students nonchalantly passing it by during their field trip many years later, and today they are re-visiting this masterpiece once more. Isn’t this what I witnessed earlier with the Sapang Palay students? I feel as if I am witnessing a cycle of a past and a present in the same afternoon. I told them to wait because the6y surely are not going to walk away this time with an unfulfilled visit. I fetched for Ali who came to the hall and started to tell the rich history behind the Spoliarium once again. He started, “the painting garnered a gold medal in Barcelona in the year 1884…”