Author: DAVAO TODAY

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?They Killed My Son?

The following is a transcript of a portion of the public hearing in Paquibato last April 5.

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LENNY NACUA: Ako si Lenny Nacua.? Ako ang nahimong biktima, staff ko ni Councilor Mahipus. Nagpuyo ko sa Sitio Quarry ug ang akong anak to ang gipatay sa mga lumad sir. Kadtong akong anak sir, wa gyud toy sala. Nia man ang iyang? punong guro diri sir, si sir Rosal, makasulti gyud og unsa gyud ang akong anak. Bisan sa among sitio, ug asa mi dapit, ilado mi sa mga tawo, wa gyud mi mga atraso. Puriso sir, unsa may inyong ikasulti nganong gipatay man to ang akong anak, wala man gyud toy intawon sala, unya wa man puy nitibo nga gipatay, mga bisaya man? Mao ra nay akong pangutana ninyo. Nganong hilabtan man ning bisaya nagtinarong man unta ni sa among panginabuhi? Sakit kaayo dawaton sir ning gibuhat sa lumad sa amoa sir.

COUNCILOR BONIFACIO MILITAR: Kanus-a nahitabo ning??

NACUA: Kadtong petsa dose sa Marso sir, gipatay nila ang akong anak nga nagkuha ra tog binigniton sa among payag sir?

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Long Afterward, War Still Devastates Filipinos

The damage caused by World War II, according to historians and sociologists, defines the modern Filipino: poor and lost, perpetually wandering the globe for economic survival, bereft of national pride, forced to suffer, to this day, the indignities of their violation.

By Carlos H. Conde
davaotoday.com

(On the occasion of National Heroes? Day on April 9, we are running this piece, which was originally published in the International Herald Tribune on August 13, 2005.)

MAPANIQUE, Pampanga — On Nov. 23, 1944, Japanese soldiers stormed through this village, burning down houses and killing all the Filipino men they could find. They then herded dozens of women to a red mansion that had been turned into a garrison.

There, the soldiers took turns violating the Filipinas; they raped a mother and her daughter at the same time in one of the many rooms.

To this day, the women of Mapanique — many of those still alive are now in their 70s — talk about their ordeal with chilling clarity.

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Filipinos Count Cost of Remittance Society

The Asian Development Bank, in its Asian Development Outlook released on Thursday, enumerated the reasons that are stunting the growth of the Philippine economy. Among these are poor investments, high unemployment and a dependence on remittances from overseas Filipino workers. Davao Today editor Carlos Conde recently wrote about this dependence for the International Herald Tribune, where this article first appeared.

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Overseas Workers Benefit Least from ?Strong? Peso

Billions of OFW Remittance Destroy RP?s Basic Industries

OFWs arriving home at the NAIA. (davaotoday.com photo by Carlos H. Conde)

By Carlos H. Conde
 davaotoday.com

MABINI, Batangas — For much of the past 15 years, Marcelino Abu has had neither a steady job nor a regular income that could support his three children. But for as long as he can remember, he has never been worried.

“We owe everything to my wife,” Abu, 49, said in a recent interview in this seaside town where he lives, 92 kilometers south of Manila. “If not for her, we would not survive.”

A relative of an OFW in Mabini in front of a mansion built with OFW money. (davaotoday.com photo by Carlos H. CondeIt is a familiar story. His wife, Yolanda Abu, has been working as a domestic helper in Rome for the past 15 years. She is one of the thousands from this town who work as maids in Europe, mostly in Italy. And Abu is one of many who stay at home, contentedly jobless because there is simply no need to work.

The Philippines’s extreme reliance on the remittances of migrant workers has been recognized as a mixed blessing ever since the 1970s, when the country became a major exporter of labor. Now, labor experts worry that Filipinos have become too dependent on remittances and that a damaging “moral hazard” has resulted.

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Esperon Could Be Blessing or Curse to Arroyo

A major risk-consultancy company says Esperon, if he becomes armed forces chief of staff, ?could be a destabilizing factor in politics?

DAVAO CITY ? President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may be lucky for having Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., the chief of Philippine Army, by her side. But while he may be a blessing to her, he could also be a curse, according to the U.S. company Pacific Strategies and Assessments (PSA), one of the most respected risk-analysis groups in Southeast Asia with deep sources within the Philippine military.

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