At least 18 female highschool students in a public school in Toril, Davao City suddenly, simultaneously, went berserk Monday morning, disrupting the opening of a new building. Classes were quickly called off, other students ordered to go home. Happy.

That they were possessed by some evil spirits was the immediate conclusion. It was easy to say that–at least in the Third World country called Philippines. One of them was so uncontrollable that about five male students and teachers were of no match for her. her eyes, their eyes, all of them, were telling the same thing–fear and something else really scary. But fear of what is something no one can tell as of yet.

School officials said Monday morning’s evil possession was not the first time. It all started last summer, after an acacia tree inside the campus was felled. Since then, evil possessions kept on happening. One or two or three students–all of them female. And Monday morning’s incident was different. Eighteen students, one of them was screaming “I love you, Glen!!!”Another looked at her teacher and growled, like some wild animal.

It was apparently a case of mass evil possession, everyone was convinced.

As always, incidents like this make us ask many questions as we perhaps notice some red flags that are too glaring to disregard. But also, we cannot blame ourselves if, along the way, we stop and laugh as we realize how funny incidents like evil possession can really be in the Philippines.

But first, let’s look at the victims. Girls. Women. Females.

An officemate offered a very discriminatory, lividly stereotypical explanation. She–yes, she–said maybe because women are soft and vulnerable and easy. But softness and vulnerability and easiness are not the exclusive characters of women. Many men are also soft, vulnerable, and easy. Someone hinted that Piolo Pascual is no way gay. That’s he is only effeminate. Is that not being woman-like? And if women are soft, vulnerable and easy, why is Piolo Pascual spared from evil possessions? Can’t Piolo Pascual become Linda Blair himself or herself or whatever?

The female victims are poor. Perhaps a diamond ring or an iphone 4s or a fancy car and designer clothes intimidate evil spirits. Perhaps evil spirits cannot stand the scent of a sweet perfume and Louis Vuitton or Hermes or Alexander McQueen bags.

Perhaps evil spirits cannot pass through the gates of posh subdivisions or the walls of exclusive schools like Ateneo, La Salle or Santo Tomas. But were there incidents of evil possessions in UP? Most evil possession happen in some Mababang Paaralan or Mataas na Paaralan somewhere in the bukid. Why? Why can evil possessions also happen in the school of Kris Aquino or Sharon Cuneta? Why can’t it happen inside the room of Gretchen Barreto or Divine Lee? Unfair.

However, I find it odd why victims of these evil possessions in the provinces do not show the greatness of Linda Blair. Why can’t they do the spiderwalk down the stairs. Where’s that crazy headspin? And where is that sticky green puke? These evils in this part of the world are so—small-time.

All these evil spirits can do is to have their possessed scream “I love you, Glen!!!”

As to why evil possessions here are funny? I forgot why.

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Alexander McQueen, Davao, Divine Lee, Evil Possession, Exorcism, Exorcist, Gretchen Barreto, Hermes, Kris Aquino, Linda Blair, Louis Vuitton, Piolo Pascual, Sharon Cuneta

It is amusing how the media looks at the pregnancy of Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte. It is as if it must matter. It is as if it can change the course of time. It is as it can save the world from doom of climate crisis and the insatiable greed of First Worlds. It is as if it can remedy the most pressing problems confronting the Filipinos today–including flood, lack of land for the farmers, expensive education and, of course, that problem called Senator Sotto, his obsession over plagiarism, and his fight against the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill.

Perhaps there is scarcity of news that a newspaper even bannered the pregnancy of Duterte-Carpio. A television news did not only feature the ‘expecting’ papa, Mans, but also some local officials giving their wishes and tips that all boiled down to how the expecting mama must strike a balance between politics and, ahmmm, the pregnancy. But the television news did not stop there. It even went ridiculously too far by conducting a survey on what the public thinks the baby must be named. And for some magical reasons, Dabawenyos think the baby, who is only eight weeks old, must have a name that starts with the letter M–Myla, Marlon or Marvelous. My Ged.

Last night, I sent the Mayor a very lengthy message about what I thought about the attention that her pregnancy is getting from the media. Part of the message read: “Have we deteriorated to that level? While I am happy for your pregnancy, I know you are not celebrating over how overkill the media covered something which is supposed to be very intimate and special. Duh!”

And she laughed. In her reply she said: “That’s the reason why I turned down all oncam interviews. Relax. If all goes well, after nine months, it would be circus again.”

I could only agree, especially when she said the survey on what to name the baby is “laugh trip.”

“As if you were a princess. Over! I cannot believe it. Like I am eating bulad (salted, dried fish) and the news is you and your pregnancy and I would say–I am so busog na (I’m full now)…Like you are Kate Middleton.”

And her reply–”Hahahaha…Marvelous Bulad Middleton.”

Funny. Very funny.

Oh. Did they also report that she’s bed resting?

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I always adored Nokia. Whenever I am at the countryside, Nokia is the mobile god. Some of their units have flashlights that are useful as a kerosene lamps. Many low-end Nokia units are also useful in areas where network coverage are scarce. These units are believed to be “signal-attractant” than the flashy, high-end units. Out there, it’s Nokia world.

One day last month, perhaps four days after I got an email from Nokia, I got package that contained a Nokia Lumia 900 handset that I was to “try” for two weeks.

The unit matched my Nokia Lumia 710. Both of them white. I was not really jumping up and down upon receiving unit but admittedly, I was happy to try my 710′s more intelligent sister.  Upon arriving home, I found out that the unit won’t turn on. Thinking that the unit needed to powered up, I charged it using the charger that came with the package. After several hours, the unit still did not turn on.

I messaged Nokia and a certain Sarah.

Immediately, Sarah replied.

On August 20, I received another letter from Nokia, from someone named Sam, giving me instructions on how they will get the unit back.  My reply was: “Hi. You can have the unit, unused because it never turned on–meaning, literally there was no trial done–picked up anytime starting wednesday, please. Thank you very much. Jefry”

In other news…

The owner of Bagnetian Kitchen, a newbie restaurant that, from the outside offers a welcoming feel–immaculate clear glass walls set between red-orange bricks–was, in fairness, apologetic and offered to “personally serve you should you decide to come back.”

Since we were turned down one unfortunate night by one of Bagnetian waiter, who never offered us a seat and practically shooed us away, we never considered going to Bagnetian Kitchen again. Not that we frown at giving second chances. We just feel like there are better restaurants to check and try out than a kitchen that is not really “bukas sa lahat ng gustong kumain (open to everyone).”

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Reports are coming in about the landslide in Sitio Bangul, a gold rush area between Mati City and Tarragona town in Davao Oriental. A village official said between 20 to 50 small-scale miners are trapped inside their tunnels following a landslide Thursday night. It was apparently triggered by the heavy downpour. A military report also claimed that a number of people are confirmed dead. The City Health Office of Mati also said there are 60 casualties.

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On December 25, 2010, The Philippine Daily Inquirer ran my story about the children of the disappeared. Below is the excerpt of the story of Bayan Intise and his sister, Malaya:

For Bayan Intise, 25, the best gift that he and his sister, Malaya, could get is to see their parents again.

“Four Christmases and they are still missing. Both I and Malaya really want to see them,” he said.

Bayan’s parents—Federico and Nelly—went missing on October 26, 2006. They were last seen in Purok Puting Bato in Barangay Calumpang, General Santos City. They disappeared with Gloria Canaveral. The human rights group Karapatan in General Santos City reported that the three were with a man identified as Rex Solon, a former cadre of the New People’s Army and suspected of being a military asset.

This December is like the past three Decembers for them. It would be filled with longing for their parents who taught them selflessness.

“We long to see our parents,” he said. He said he also wanted to get closure to his search, to find out whether his parents were still alive or dead.

Recently, Bayan and Bips communed with families and victims of extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture, harassment and other forms of attacks on human rights during the Human Rights Summit initiated by human rights monitor Barug Katungod Mindanao in Davao.

Standing before other victims, a courageous Bayan said: “My father was a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF) … my mother was a civilian. Both of them have yet to come home … and we are waiting, painfully waiting for their homecoming.”

Bayan’s parents are among the 51 victims of enforced disappearances in Mindanao under the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Since President Aquino took power, Karapatan says it has recorded two cases of enforced disappearances.

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It’s called Le Jardin. But there are no flowers in bloom here. Instead, this is a garden of injustice, of troubles, of pain, of sorrows, of everything dark. This is a garden where flowers die even before they bloom.

Nanay Silay, 73, who now walks around limping, tells you why.

On Thursday, inside the Baquirit Compound in Maa here in Davao, Marcela Camumot, or Nanay Silay, stood in front of a backhoe with only one hope that it stops even just for once. She could not stand the sight of her crops being destroyed.  She begged for mercy. She prayed. But the driver did not stop. The backhoe just went on. The groaning of the engines might have drowned her prayers. What happened next was worse. The driver rammed her. The wheel of the backhoe ran over her right foot. The soft earth swallowed her foot that she was spared from one major injury. Still, Nanay Silay finds it difficult to walk without a cane.

The next day, four activists, who formed a human barricade as they sympathize with Nanay Silay and the 27 families living in Bariquit compound, were arrested and detained by police. But it was only after the activists figured in a scuffle with the police—the law enforcers—who were all heavily-armed.

A video of the incident showed around four to five uniformed policemen on top of one of the activists. Four to five policemen. Perhaps each weighs 75 kilograms. One medium-built activist. Maybe weighs 60 kilograms. That’s 375 kilograms on top of 60. Not fair.

Nanay Silay and the residents of Bariquit compound have been up in arms against the ‘owners’ of Le Jardin over the past years—the Villa Abrilles. Last year, after the Villa Abrilles aggressively started to develop the area into a high-end subdivision—that goes with a tagline ‘Garden in the City—the residents alleged to have been subjected to harassments, apparently in an attempt to push them out of the area.

And it was always like that. A backhoe and a throng of armed men. If not fully-armed police men, fully-armed men whose identities are hidden under their balaclavas.

The backhoe would wake the children up and the mothers and fathers would gather around, stand by each other, armed only with stones and some left-over, if not imagined, courage to fight for what they believe is theirs but grabbed by the Villa Abrilles.

But what are stones and some left-over or imagined courage against the bullets of the armed guards of their oppressors? The residents of Bariquit compound, yes, throw stones at the backhoe and the armed men, maybe including the policemen, but what are stones compared to bullets.

Last Friday, a resident of the compound, Inday Bariquit, sent me frantic messages about the presence of armed men and police in the compound.

At 10:01, Inday’s text read: “Sir, we are being harassed here.”

At 10:25, she sent this message: “Sir, the police are harassing us now.”

At 10:59, her text message read: “Please proceed to the Talomo Police Station because the students were arrested.”

The fight of the residents of Bariquit Compound tells about the plight of many other urban poor communities who are also fighting to have a space in a City they call their own. What is clear is that while posh villages, high-rise condominiums and subdivisions are sprouting all around the city, many people are left without a space to live in.

However, the fight of Nanay Silay against the Villa Abrilles, who by the way never ever gave media interviews, offers hope to those who are pushed to the margins.

In an article in Davao Today, Nanay Silay said: “Tigulang na man ko. Kung patyon ko nila, pwede gud na nilang himoon pero lisud kung  mosurrender ko. Mura rag giluiban nako akong kaugalingon. (I am already old. They can shoot me if they want to but it’s hard for me to give up this fight. It’s like I am betraying myself).”

For more about the fight of Nanay Silay and the residents of Bariquit Compound, click this. By the way, the developer of Le Jardin is the Filinvest Development Corporation.

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About four years ago, while working as the media advocacy specialist of the Interface Development Interventions, Inc. (Idis), I was surprised to know that Cebu City is importing fresh water from the island of Bohol. It was during a forum on Davao City’s sources of water that I learned how Cebu’s ground water reserves are being contaminated by saltwater. The forum’s speaker, whom we also imported from Cebu, was just as surprised to know that people in Davao drink water straight from their faucets.

That brought to the fore the importance of the watersheds of Davao. The challenge for Idis was how to ‘popularize’ the importance of the watershed to the public. There were patches of responsive efforts from different sectors. The city government even created a body called Watershed Management Council. Another challenge was how to consolidate all these efforts and come up with a holistic, collective approach—same direction, with one goal.

I only learned recently that the Watershed Management Council was reconvened. Meaning, the body went through a state of weakening, if not demise, during the past years. All sectors were once again called in together, including the media, as the body was being resuscitated. Apparently because of its impressive credentials, being the one who aggressively pushed for the banning of aerial spraying, among others, Idis was chosen as the civil-society representative to the council. Still, the challenge for Idis, and the other members of the council, was how to walk through the same way, with the same objective of hitting one goal.

Recently, I was able to talk to Mayor Inday Sara Duterte about the directions of Davao. She was honest enough to admit that pursuing development means compromising a lot of things, including the environment. She, however, stressed that there can be no compromise between the environment and mining. The Dutertes are holding deep dislike over mining. The father and daughter tandem speak of it like some demon they want to slay if given a chance. This position remained strong, never weakened by the executive order on mining issued by President Aquino. Mayor Duterte said the city government will make it difficult for mining companies to enter Davao. Vice Mayor Duterte warned that even if mining companies are given the green light, they will have to contend with the fact that out there are New People’s Army rebels waiting for them, ready to flex their revolutionary muscles under its own revolutionary form of government. It was a threat, alright.

And both supported each other on the ban on plastics and nonbiodegradable materials, a local legislation that comes along with the multimillion solid waste management facility located some 30 kilometers away from the heart of the city. Just like the smoking ordinance, the anti-plastics ordinance generated howls from the public. But the local government, of course, was resolute to implement the ordinance nevertheless.  Market vendors and restaurant owners did not like it. And they protested. The ban, they said, comes with a price because the plastic bags only allowed to be used under the ordinance are expensive. But what can they do? It only took a little convincing, and notices, and fines and maybe imprisonment in the future, if necessary, for the opposition to silence their own version of a cause.

But the mother of all ironies is the support of the older Duterte to the Aboitiz-owned coal-fired power plant being established now in Toril.

The two Dutertes clashed over this multi-million project, which according to the press releases of Aboitiz, will solve the power crisis of Mindanao. This is a claim that appears too sooty and too dark for me to believe.

That she is against the project, invoking the same principles behind the banning of aerial spraying of chemicals in banana plantations, was proven when Mayor Duterte vetoed a resolution from the city council that supported the project. Please take note that only one councilor, Atty. Leah Librado, voted against the passage.  Weird how the councilor who is supposed to know better, Marissa Salvador-Abella, because she’s the chair of the committee on environment, favored the establishment of the coal-fired power plant.

But the veto, only a week after it was released by Mayor Duterte, was overpowered by the city council. The coal-fired power plant is now being worked on.  Soon, the village of Binugaw, the site of the project, will be sleepless for long.

As environmental lawyer Jenny Ramos said: “Contradictions, indeed. He (Vice Mayor Duterte) is against smoking but he is supportive of coal?”

I agree.

This project will leave a smudge on the face of Davao City. And it will be a shameful, ugly, very ugly smudge.

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One can easily fall in love with Davao. But this feeling can many times be fleeting that one can choose to unlove it just as easily. One can adore it today and harbor a feeling of intense aversion tomorrow. One may find it peaceful. Many find it dangerous. It is beautiful to others as it is dreadful to some. Just like the sunrise, it offers hope to many. But it means forever darkness to others, too.

Davao is not only an imperfect city. It is also a city of great, great contradictions.

Under the leadership of then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, now the Vice Mayor, the ban on smoking in public places was passed. The passage of the ordinance stirred controversy—just like the many ordinances that came next.

Many predicted it would become one of those local legislations that will only be spoiled on the shelf. However, as Duterte himself is personally against smoking, the ban remains to be working even now.

The reason behind the passage, he told me once, was because of some personal experience of health problems that he could only blame on smoking. And then there are some—public safety and public interest. He would say: “If you want to die of cancer, die alone. Don’t drag others into it.”

Many years later, a ban on aerial spraying of synthetic chemicals would be imposed by the city government, arousing an intense debate between nongovernment organizations, who went ahead of the many others to warn the public about climate crisis and the need to embrace sustainable natural resource management and lifestyle, and agricultural companies that have transformed many upland communities into a vast green scenery of monoculture plantations that are heavily dependent on chemicals.

The Duterte-led government stood by the people, behind the advocates of environmental protection and sustainable agriculture and healthy lifestyle. The local government was convinced that the aerial spraying of chemicals exposed many communities, people—of course—unnecessarily to synthetic chemicals that are proven, or suspected, to being harmful to health.

It was kind of unusual for the local government to trust the civil society movement, who, by that time, was singing—repeatedly, resolutely— what is called as ‘precautionary principle.’  The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development on June 1992 in Brazil came up with a Rio Declaration that says: “…the precautionary approach (also known as precautionary principle) shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.”

And feeling beaten, the moneyed and very influential Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (Pbgea) sued the Duterte administration for abuse of power. A local court trashed the case, which was elevated to the higher courts.

The passage of the aerial spraying ban was a victory for the civil society groups in Davao, headed by the very humble and understaffed, and scarcely funded NGO called Interface Development Interventions, Inc. (IDIS). That it was questioned in court was a test to the advocacy of the group. Until now, the group remains true to its advocacy—unrelenting to push for the sustainable management of the watersheds of Davao City: the Panigan-Tamugan and Talomo Lipadas Watershed—the future source and the current source of Davao City’s potable water.

Along with the ban on aerial spraying was the passage of other local green laws—Water Code, Watershed Code and Organic Agriculture. City officials also suddenly became aware of proper zoning, delineating areas intended and good only for agriculture, commercial purposes, industrial, residential, among others.

More and more sectors are joining in the fight to save the watersheds of Davao. Just very recently, thousands of Dabaweyos and celebrities from the Kapatid Network of businessman Manny V. Pangilinan ran for the Talomo-Lipadas Watershed, a pre-Kadayawan Festival event. The proceeds of the run were used to buy seedlings and other materials for a series of tree planting activities at the Talomo-Lipadas Watershed areas.

Why the event was important was because of the fact that monoculture plantations—which are highly-dependent on chemicals—are slowly creeping up the watershed areas, apparently endangering the current source of Davao’s water.

That while one can drink water straight from any faucet in any area in downtown Davao. You cannot do that in Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, General Santos, Cotabato, much more in Metro Manila.

If that can’t make you fall in love with the city, I would no longer know what will.

(To be continued…)

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banana plantation, chemical, Davao City, Duterte, environment, Philippines, toxic, water, watershed

A cockroach runs around frantically–very much like a frantic cockroach running for dear life because it knows, yes, it–because it’s a lowlifer–it knows you are out for the kill. You mightily stomp on it but it is quicker than your left foot, even if it is armored with a hava. And like some headless chicken, it runs across the room, the cockroach. But the left foot, a resolute murderer, is out to prove that it is a professional murderer. And there, after another strike, there, from the sole of the rubber to the flesh of your left foot you’d feel the crack.

Ahhhh…another death delivered to the gods of the sewer.

Yes. That feeling

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