Surviving life’s trials through faith

By Romulo Ponte
Inquirer
Last updated 10:36pm (Mla time) 07/25/2007

SAN PEDRO, Laguna – Nila Tribiana Aquino and her husband Bert would have wanted themselves preoccupied with supporting two beautiful daughters, who are now a medical doctor and a hotel and restaurant management graduate.

 

But on August 27, 1987, Nila gave birth to a third daughter whose looks came as a shock to her and the family. Anna Carmela had no hands and legs.

 

“She was born an angel, one with broken wings,” the woman, now 58, from San Pedro, Laguna, said of the quadriplegic Anna Carmela.

 

Indeed, an angel Anna Carmela is. Despite her handicap, she has become a source of inspiration and pride to her family and to her elementary and high school classmates because of her intelligence, wit and deep love of God.

 

Excelling in science and English, she has been a consistent honor student, graduating valedictorian in the elementary and salutatorian in high school. She wants to take up Psychology in a prestigious university.

 

No punishment

 

A poem she wrote when she was in first year high school did not betray her being a quadriplegic. It expresses her thanks to God for “the beautiful and healthy body. For my eyes to see the colorful flowers, the beautiful birds, and the sky…”

 

Indeed, contrary to Nila’s initial thought that her child was a curse and a punishment, she is a gem and heaven-sent.

 

Her cousin Chit A. Tribiana, in her essay “Everyday Miracles,” describes Nila’s ordeal: “Anger and denial consumed her for days and weeks. Alone in her room, she would cry, question why He allowed this to happen when she had served Him well, then cried some more. She could not even bring herself to talk about, much less show, her baby to her friends.”

 

The mother’s depression went on for about two months, until she could cry no more. She turned to the Bible for answers, and realized how her life resembled that of Job, whose faith and fidelity to God was tested. All her anger and feeling of shame disappeared.

 

Answered prayers

 

The whole family lavished Anna Carmela with all the affection and care she needed, like a normal baby. She is present in all family gatherings and celebrations. She entertains guests with her favorite Pussycat Dolls and MYMP songs.

 

Today, the teenager likes to send text messages in her two mobile phones to friends despite her short, incomplete and twisted fingers.

 

Nila recalled how God had answered her prayers when Anna Carmela was 2 years old. She appealed that the child’s travel be less difficult whenever she was brought to a hospital in Manila in a custom-made stroller for regular checkups.

 

On July 7, 1989, while Nila was preparing for a talk in a seminar in Cebu as her company’s budget supervisor, a silent “voice” told her in Filipino: “You pledged P1,000, but you will only pay for P200. Get five more.”

 

To make a long story short, Nila had bought the lucky number which won the grand prize of a raffle draw on July 9, 1989, by the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus in San Pedro—a new Zebra AUV. It was the perfect answer to Anna Carmela’s need for transportation to the hospital.

 

As the years went by, the mother realized that she needed help to look after Anna Carmela, so Bert resigned from his work abroad to help her.

 

Second trial: cancer

 

Now 19, Anna Carmela said she wanted people to “treat me as a normal person like them. I don’t want them to pity me because I am like this.” She is challenging the children in her neighborhood to value their studies and complete their profession.

 

“I am thanking God that He makes me happy despite my physical handicap.”

 

At first, Nila and Bert thought that the coming of Anna Carmela was their worst trial. “Not yet!” God seemed to say.

 

Nila was diagnosed as having an advanced stage of breast cancer in the late 1990s. She was advised to undergo chemotherapy and surgery, which, according to her doctor, would give her a 50-50 chance of survival.

 

Nila knew too well the bleak scenario ahead if she allowed herself to be treated at once: Her elder daughters—Maritess and Roselle—would be forced to quit college, and she herself would stop working.

 

She decided to keep her condition a secret and continued with her job to allow her children to finish their studies. Her only request to God was to contain the cancerous cells so that she would not suffer much.

 

In 2003, her left nipple started to retract. In February 2005, her breast bled and left an ugly wound. Several tests did not rule out metastasis.

 

In early 2006, back pains prompted her to have a bone scan. The doctor’s prognosis: Stage-4 cancer.

 

Time for treatment

 

This time, her family prevailed.

 

Maritess, who finished 11th in the February 2000 Pharmacists Board Examinations and is also a licensed physician, made Nila promise that no matter what happened, her mother must go through the required medical treatment.

 

The eldest child chose to defer her residency to attend to her mother’s needs. Her father and Roselle, who is now working in a leading hotel, are all behind Nila. Anna Carmela has expressed willingness to delay her schooling.

 

Nila is currently back in her job in a management services company, but her medication continues. Her last salary has been exhausted, and her family is surviving on advances and loans from her company and assistance from people who care.

 

Like Job, her strong faith has sustained her in her fight against the malady. She has remained smiling, assured that God, with the help of countless agents storming the heavens with prayers and adoration, will rescue her.

 

Tithing continues

 

Despite her financial crisis, the patient keeps her practice of tithing to the Church, charitable institutions, and to the poor. She believes that by sharing graces to the needy, God will also be more gracious to her and her family.

 

“I keep praying that God will still cure me so that I can continue earning for my children,” Nila said. “But I don’t know what His plan is. Whatever it is, I know it will be for the best. I have complete trust in my True Healer.”

Lim launches antipollution drive

Greening of Manila starts Aug.1

By Allison Lopez
Inquirer
Last updated 01:15am (Mla time) 07/27/2007

MANILA, Philippines – As part of his environmental program, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim will lead a massive tree-planting activity in the city on Aug. 1.

 

“We will plant trees all over the city, including sidewalks where there will be shade once they grow. Apart from that, the leaves will absorb carbon dioxide,” he said.

 

Lim added that they have received 1,000 seedlings from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the event.

 

Various groups like the Boy Scouts of the Philippines will join city officials in the activity.

 

Smoke-belching vehicles, said Lim, would also be targeted by his campaign against pollution.

 

Meanwhile, Winner Foundation president Regina Paterno said they would conduct their own tree-planting activities on Aug. 4 and 12 in celebration of International Arbor (Tree) Day.

 

“Right now we have a geodetic engineer who will check if the drainage in Arroceros Forest Park is okay. We want to make sure everything is in place before we start planting new trees,” she said.

 

The Pasig River walkway, which is being renovated, would also be dotted with trees by their group, said Paterno.

 

The environmentalist also called for water conservation because “power shortages are caused by water scarcity.”

 

Lim advised city residents yesterday to conserve water and electricity due to reports that drought and brownouts might occur because of shortages.

 

“We should limit water consumption. For example, when you wash your hands don’t take too long and don’t leave faucets running,” he said “Turn off the lights if you don’t need them,” he added.

 

Car wash owners, added Lim, could do their part by using buckets instead of hoses.

 

He said conservation measures would also reduce expenses.

 

The water level at Angat Dam, which supplies the commodity to Metro Manila, was reported to be 6 meters below the critical level recently.

Taguig lets loose ‘nightbirds’ against criminals

By Julie M. Aurelio
Inquirer
Last updated 02:45am (Mla time) 07/27/2007

MANILA, Philippines – A different kind of “nightbird” will soon be roaming crime-prone areas in Taguig City to discourage criminal activities at night.

 

The Taguig City police will soon deploy patrol groups to Barangay Signal Village, Lower Bicutan and Western Bicutan as part of its increased police visibility and anti-criminality campaign.

 

The campaign, dubbed “Oplan Nightbirds 2007,” involves the deployment of foot and mobile patrols. “The teams will be composed of select members of the Taguig Mobile Patrol Group (TMPG), the city government’s Public Order and Safety Office, Office of the Social Welfare and Development and the General Services Office,” said Supt. Alfred Corpus, city police chief.

 

Corpus said the patrol team would be composed of 30 to 40 persons.

 

City Mayor Freddie Tinga expressed his support for the special night operations group.

 

“One of our biggest priorities is to provide our constituents with a safe and secure community. We hope to increase police visibility and provide preventive measures against nocturnal crimes,” Tinga said.

 

The “Nightbirds” will also make their presence felt in areas that have become favorite hang-outs of people in the evening, such as Internet cafés, 24-hour convenience stores, hospitals, and call centers.

 

“The group was primarily formed to address nocturnal criminality and lawlessness in the city. But more than providing preventive security measure, it will promptly respond to emergencies in their areas of coverage,” police chief Corpus said.

 

He added that they would also strictly implement City Ordinance 13, which imposed a curfew on minors in the city.

 

The ordinance provides that residents below 18 years old are prohibited from going out of their homes from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. the following day unless they are accompanied by an adult. Minors are barred from “loitering or roaming aimlessly in the streets, stores, bars, plazas, basketball courts, recreation halls, amusement centers or malls, billiard halls and/or pool rooms and other public places.”

 

Violators will be brought to the city’s social welfare office for counseling. Corpus said the offenders would be required to render community service under the supervision of barangay officials or social welfare officials.

Checkpoints set up to seize contaminated meat from Bulacan

By Nancy C. Carvajal, TJ Burgonio
Inquirer
Last updated 08:33pm (Mla time) 07/27/2007

MANILA, Philippines — Satellite meat inspection points have been set up in two areas in Valenzuela City to ensure that no infected meat from cholera-infested hog farms in Bulacan will enter Metro Manila.

 

Dr. Basil Sison, head of the City Veterinary Office , said the inspection sites were put up after a request of the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) coursed through City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian.

 

Valenzuela City is the gateway to Metro Manila for foodstuff from Central and Northern Luzon.

 

Sison said the request stemmed from a warning from the Department of Agriculture of an outbreak of hog cholera in some areas in Bulacan province and the proliferation of “double-dead meat” in Metro Manila markets.

 

The NMIS raised on Friday a hog cholera “red alert” in Metro Manila and five regions of Luzon after the disease spread to backyard pig farms in Bulacan and Pampanga.

 

Bulacan, a hog-growing center, is a major pork supplier of Metro Manila.

 

Sison said preventing the entry of infected meat would help prevent the spread of hog cholera in the city.

 

The checkpoints will be manned by people from the Valenzuela veterinary office in coordination with the Philippine National Police.

 

Sison said even meat products from accredited hog farms and slaughter houses would be closely monitored.

 

He said shipments, even when they had the required documentation like slaughter house stamps and meat certification, would be inspected.

 

“The condition of the meat at the time of the inspection would be given more weight,” Sison said.

 

He added that contaminated meat would be confiscated and the people transporting it would be investigated.

 

Those found transporting contaminated meat will be charged with violation of Republic Act No. 9296 or the Meat Inspection Code, the Consumers Act, and a city ordinance.

 

Hog cholera is highly infectious and spreads rapidly. But the outbreak of the disease in some areas in Bulacan would not affect the supply and prices of pork in Metro Manila, Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) officials said Friday.

 

Davinio Catbagan, BAI officer in charge, said the outbreak was confined to only a “few farms.”

 

So far, less than five percent of 2,250 affected hogs died from the disease that broke out last week in backyard farms in at least 32 villages in Bulacan, Catbagan said.

 

Catbagan said the BAI has mounted a campaign to prevent the spread of the disease.

 

“We are assuring consumers that prices of pork are expected to remain stable despite the outbreak because the disease is only confined to a few farms, and hence, will have no effect on the supply of hogs to Metro Manila.”

 

He assured growers that cholera could be prevented by vaccination.

 

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap ordered the BAI to look into the status of the hog vaccination program in Bulacan. He directed the provincial veterinarian to submit a report on the possible causes of the outbreak.

 

Yap also ordered that transport of breeders and hogs for slaughter should be covered by shipping permits and monitored at veterinary quarantine checkpoints.

 

“The selling and transport of sick and affected animals is strictly prohibited,” Yap stressed in his directive.

 

Yap ordered DA regional executive directors to coordinate closely with provincial, city and municipal veterinarians in a massive information campaign on measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

 

Catbagan said the outbreak would not affect the government’s plan to apply for a global declaration of the Philippines as a foot and mouth disease-free country next year with the Animal Health Organization (AHO).

 

The AHO is expected to vote on the application when it holds its general assembly in May 2008.

Int’l group worries over fate of cheaper medicines bill

By Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer
Last updated 07:06pm (Mla time) 07/27/2007

MANILA, Philippines — An international advocacy group has expressed fears that bills meant to lower the prices of medicines in the country might again not be passed by the 14th Congress because of intense lobbying by giant pharmaceutical companies and a lack of quorum.

 

Oxfam, which has been closely monitoring such measures, urged lawmakers to show up during deliberations and voting, and also resist “possible favors” from big drug companies represented by the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP).

 

“The previous Congress already failed the Filipino people by not passing the bill upholding patients’ rights over the foreign drug companies’ patent privileges, for sheer lack of quorum,” Shalimar Vitan, the group’s campaign coordinator for access to medicines, said in a statement sent to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

 

She was ostensibly referring to the lower house whose poor attendance during the two-day special session last February and, again, during the three remaining session days last June, doomed the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2007.

 

Oxfam made the appeal following Speaker Jose de Venecia’s promise that the bill would be passed within 45 days.

 

The Senate had earlier passed a starkly different version of the bill, which allows parallel importation of patented medicines. Authors of the House version believe theirs was stronger and more effective in dismantling the so-called “cartel” of giant drug companies.

 

“Now is the time to redeem themselves as public officials tasked to formulate laws that will bring relief to poor Filipinos,” Vitan said.

 

The group was so concerned about the passage of the bill its members were perennially present in congressional sessions. Some of them were tasked to watch out for drug company “lobbyists” and take pictures of them approaching lawmakers.

 

“We expect big, foreign pharmaceutical companies under the Philippine Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) back in the Congress session halls to prevent the bill from being passed,” Vitan said.

 

“We appeal to our legislators not to succumb to pressures and possible favors from PHAP in exchange for public health.”

 

During the special session in February, lawmakers from the lower house threw out four lobbyists from PHAP for interfering in the plenary session as they were about to vote to pass the Cheaper Medicines Bill on third reading.

 

The lobbyists had passed a note to Makati Representative Teodoro Locsin Jr., asking him to question the quorum, a move that would eventually doom the bill.

 

The PHAP later issued a statement, saying it only wanted Locsin, being a so-called “corporate constituent,” to “listen to our proposed amendments.”

 

“There is nothing wrong with that [passing a note to a congressman],” PHAP said. “In any democratic country, the first step one must take in order to be heard is to write your congressman.”

Teachers in global meet urge end to killings, disappearances

Teachers in global meet urge end to killings, disappearances

INQUIRER.net
Last updated 01:37pm (Mla time) 07/27/2007

MANILA, Philippines — More than 1,700 delegates to an international congress that claims to represent 30 million teachers in 180 countries called for an end to extrajudicial killings and involuntary disappearances in the country and for punishment of the perpetrators.

 

An urgent resolution of the 5th World Congress of Education International in Berlin, Germany, sent here by e-mail, called on the Arroyo government to “immediately put a stop to extrajudicial killings and involuntary disappearances; investigate, prosecute, and punish those responsible for these acts; and ensure that its security forces respect the human rights and civil liberties of citizens.”

 

A statement describes Education International as “a global federation of teacher trade unions, with 30 million members from more than 300 affiliated organizations in over 180 countries.”

 

The Philippines was represented to the teachers’ congress by Antonio Tinio, chairman of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and a representative of the Teachers’ Organization of the Philippines-Public Sector.

 

The delegates to the congress held July 22 to 26 said they were “appalled that more than 1000 activists fighting to uphold the rights and welfare of poor and oppressed Filipinos have been assassinated or made to disappear since President Gloria [Macapagal] Arroyo took power in 2001.”

 

Among the victims, they noted, were nine teachers, including ACT national officers Vitoria Samonte and Napoleon Pornasdoro.

 

The teachers also said they were “outraged that these gross human rights violations are carried out with impunity.”

 

The continued murders and attacks on activists in the country — the majority of which various local and foreign investigators say may be attributed to state security forces but which the government claims are the result of a supposed purge within the communist rebel movement — has brought increased international scrutiny and criticism on the Arroyo administration.

 

To date, human rights groups say no one has ever been arrested and convicted for the killings or disappearances.

 

Among the more celebrated cases is the abduction and disappearance of Jonas Burgos, son of the late press freedom icon Jose “Joe” Burgos Jr.

Nonoy Espina

Social welfare chief defends juvenile justice law

By Volt Contreras
Inquirer
Last updated 06:58pm (Mla time) 07/27/2007

MANILA, Philippines — Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral on Friday defended the law that shields juvenile offenders from prosecution after a ranking police officer warned that terrorist or organized crime groups might take advantage of such leniency.

 

“We must give the law a chance, prove first that it works,” Cabral said of the 15-month-old measure. “If that is their fear, then all the more must the police do their job.”

 

The Philippine Daily Inquirer sought her reaction after Chief Superintendent Pedro Tangco, director of the National Capital Region’s Northern Police District, called on Thursday for a review of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 (Republic Act 9344).

 

Tangco made his views public on RA 9344 days after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed an executive order calling on the Department of Justice and the Public Attorneys Office to work for the immediate release of hundreds of underage offenders still languishing in jail despite the enactment of the law in April 2006.

 

The law is anchored on the principle that youth offenders should not be punished like common criminals but instead be made to undergo a rehabilitation program. The order particularly called for the release from jail of child offenders aged 15 years old and under.

 

Tangco then noted that with the law in effect, “the police cannot pursue a case against a minor, and criminals know this.”

 

He said the police should still retain some degree of authority to take custody of and prosecute child offenders who committed terrorist activities and high criminal offenses.

 

The police general noted how children could easily be brainwashed to carry out terrorist activities or be used as a tool for heinous crimes.

 

He also suggested that cases of repeat offenders and “hard-core” juvenile delinquents should be treated separately under RA 9344.

 

Under the law, if a past offender is “rearrested” for the same crime, the child will be released again without charges, he added.

 

Cabral conceded that Tangco was not alone with such worries, saying she had heard other law enforcement officials air the same concerns.

 

But she said any fine-tuning of RA 9344 at this point may have to be through the amendment process in Congress.

Police official warns vs ‘child terrorists’

By Nancy C. Carvajal
Inquirer
Last updated 07:34am (Mla time) 07/27/2007

MANILA, Philippines — A police official Thursday sought a review of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 (Republic Act 9344), saying it could be used by terrorists and other criminals.

 

Chief Superintendent Pedro Tango, director of the Northern Police District, said children could be “brainwashed or threatened to carry out terrorist activities and used as a tool to commit heinous crimes.”

 

“The police cannot pursue a case against a minor, and criminals know this,” he said.

 

Thus, he said, RA 9344 should be “reviewed to give police the authority to take custody of and prosecute child offenders who committed terrorist activities and high criminal offenses.”

 

He added that the cases of children in conflict with the law who are neither hard-core criminals nor recidivists should be addressed separately.

 

Tango pointed out that child offenders in middle-class areas were different from those in depressed areas.

 

“The physical and environmental conditions of the offender should also be considered and treated adequately,” he said.

 

Even if the same children are rearrested for the same offense, they have to be released without charge, he said. “Otherwise, the arresting officer could be charged with violation of RA 9344.”

 

These cases mostly involve snatching, robbery and physical injury, according to police records.

DepEd aims for student entrepreneurship

DepEd aims for student entrepreneurship
By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:29pm (Mla time) 07/27/2007

MANILA, Philippines — As part of its technical and vocational program, the Department of Education (DepEd) will soon start the six-day Student Technologists and Entrepreneurs of the Philippines (STEP), a series of activities that focus on skills development of students.

The DepEd will set a schedule of activities for the school year 2007-2008 that will be held at the department’s offices in Region 11 on November 19.

 

The theme for this year’s STEP is “Upgrading Skills, Improving Lives.”

 

 

 

It puts a premium on the participation of school organizations to disseminate skills and knowledge on technical and vocational education.

 

Among the focus areas in this year’s STEP are Home Economics, Agricultural Technology, Industrial Arts, and Retail Trade.

 

Elementary and secondary school students can avail of the course offerings through DepEd’s Center for Students and Co-Curricular Affairs.

 

The DepED aims to provide a venue for students from both public and private schools to gain relevant knowledge and skills on technical and vocational education.

 

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said the agency’s concern, in particular, is the mismatch between the number of graduates schools produce and the number of available jobs that require vocational skills and knowledge.

 

“Millions of college diploma holders are still unemployed despite the huge demand for skilled workers. Technology paired with entrepreneurial possibilities will translate to generation of job opportunities,” Lapus said.

SC orders Legarda to pay P1.87M for return of poll documents

SC orders Legarda to pay P1.87M for return of poll documents
By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 04:38pm (Mla time) 07/27/2007

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has ordered Senator-elect Loren Legarda to pay P1.871-million for the return of election documents used in her electoral protest to Cebu and Pampanga.

 

In a resolution, the high court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), affirmed the recommendation of its consultant, lawyer Orlando Carino, that the ballot boxes, together with the book of voters, list of voters and other documents be returned to the provinces where they came from.

 

The election documents were taken to the Supreme Court for retabulation in connection with Legarda’s election protest against Vice-President Noli De Castro.

 

Carino said the documents have to be returned to Cebu and Pampanga after the dismissal of the second phase of Legarda’s protest after she failed to pay a P3-million bond required of her.