Blog Posts by VERA Files

Joseph Victor Ejercito-Estrada of the United Nationalist Alliance leads senatorial candidates in poster violations after almost two months of campaigning.

The Commission on Elections’ legal department has sent eight notices to Estrada asking him to remove campaign materials found in places not designated as common poster areas.

The other senatorial candidates with the most number of notices for violations are Team Pnoy’s Juan Edgardo Angara, Benigno ‘Bam’ Aquino and Bangon Pilipinas’ Eduardo Villanueva.

The poll body has so far recorded 56 poster violations among 23 of the 33 senatorial candidates, and 73 violations by 35 party-lists running in the May 13 elections.

Despite the mounting violations, the Comelec has managed to file only a handful of cases against party-lists and Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr admitted he was dismayed at the slow pace of building and filing cases.

The Comelec has been strict in enforcing the rules on campaigning but it does not have enough people to

Read More »from JV leads race…in poster violations

By Kimberly Rose L. Pillo and Hazel P. Villa, VERA Files

According to elders of Lampaya, no one in their village in the southwestern town of Leon in Iloilo, central Philippines, has successfully finished college to become a teacher, a doctor or an engineer.

In this remote mountainous village of clear skies and cool air known as the Little Baguio of Iloilo, farming is the way of life. Thus, it is already considered an honor for anyone here to be able to graduate from high school.

All that has changed when one of them dared to dream and in the process becoming an inspiration to villagers for whom ambitions and time seemed to have given up on.

“Our parents’ only dream was to get us into high school and after that, they won’t care anymore,” says 21-year-old Leonisa Calimotan. “There was a time when my father told me that right after I graduate (from high school), I should just get myself a husband.”

Leonisa’s mother, Celedonia, 65, works as a househelp while her father George, 60, is a

Read More »from Meet the first teacher of Iloilo’s “Little Baguio”

By Erin Emocling, VERA Files

Photos from Greenpeace Philippines

Green superheroes Ben 10, The Green Lantern, and The Hulk are joining the Philippine election campaign.

No, 10-year old Ben the Omnitrix will not use his a mysterious alien weapon, Omnitrix, for either Team PNoy or United Nationalist Alliance senatorial candidates.

But who knows if Green Lantern would use the ring that grants him superpowers to fight those who threatens to upset the balance of power in the universe. Or if The Hulk would turn into a green, irradiated, mutated humanoid monster if he meets candidates coddling illegal loggers.

The participation of the emerald-attired superheroes in the election campaign is part of “Berde ka ba?” ---this year’s campaign theme of Greenpeace Philippines’ Green Electoral Initiative (GEI).

Coined from the rising fame of Pinoy rap culture of FlipTop, where contenders outfox each other through witty freestyle verses, “Berde ka ba” activities will include a public debate among

Read More »from Green superheroes on the campaign trail

Emily Watson as cellist Jacqueline Du Pre

By Pablo A. Tariman, VERA Files

If you want to explore the performing arts this summer and are not keen on music listening, the best way is to watch films on the lives of artists.

The best examples are “Shine” (about a piano prodigy and his Rach 3-obsessed father), “Hilary and Jackie” (about a celebrated cellist and her flutist sister), “The Piano Teacher” (about a Schubert interpreter with a wild streak of obsession and jealousy) and perhaps “Music of the Heart” (about a music teacher introducing classical music in the public schools in New York).

The film impact of “Shine” and “Hilary & Jackie” was revealing even among non-music aficionados. Perhaps one way to improve musical education in this country is to expose both young and adult audiences to quality films revolving around the life of musicians.

If the themes of love, intrigue and obsession are common, they are even more pronounced in the musical world.

Competition between voice teachers and their pupils reached absurd, if,

Read More »from The artist’s life on film

Kenya's Supreme Court (Photo by TESS BACALLA)By Tess Bacalla, VERA Files

Nairobi, Kenya—When Kenya’s historic general elections on March 4 ended on a largely peaceful note, its people breathed a big sigh of relief, and rejoiced, regardless of who emerged as winners in the hotly contested presidential race. Peace, it seemed, had finally descended on Kenya, a nation long divided by ethnic tensions—and peace it was they wanted more than seeing their respective candidates win.

Like the Philippines, elections in Kenya have bred violence. But unlike the Philippines, where much of election rivalries center around powerful clans and families, this east African state struggles with decades-old ethnic divides that could easily escalate into violence such as what transpired five years ago.

Kenyans still vividly remember the country’s descent into violence following the Dec. 27, 2007 presidential vote.

The results, widely perceived to have been rigged in favor of now outgoing President Mwai Kibaki, 81, sparked an unprecedented bloodbath

Read More »from Kenya election issues should resonate with PH voters

COMMENTARY

By Lauro L. Baja Jr., VERA Files
DFA headquarters

In various prose, Philippine foreign policy revolves and operates under three pillars: protection of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the republic; promotion of the economic interests of the country; and protection and promotion of the welfare of overseas Filipino workers.

In pursuit of these pillars, the Philippines has conducted its foreign policy with significant stress on the importance of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its member countries, the strategic reality of China as an important neighbor to the north, and the continuing importance of the US as a treaty ally.

Contemporary global and regional developments are putting to test these pillars and realities. Where really is the Philippine foreign policy?

Malaysia and Sabah

As events unfold on the monthlong standoff in Sabah, it is becoming clear that there was a failure of intelligence on the part of the Philippine and Malaysian governments. How come they

Read More »from Angels and demons of Philippine foreign policy

The blog KabisdakBy Ma. Theresa Angelina Quintana-Tabada, VERA Files

In the dead of night, two creatures square off for the undying soul: the mortal and the immortal.

Myke U. Obenieta is both: blogger and sundered citizen of the Filipino diaspora.

By day, Obenieta juggles life as husband of middle school teacher Arlaine, 37, and father of Aegan, 10, and Golli, 7, in Topeka, Kansas, while studying Sociology and Mass Media at Washburn University.

He emails an English column, “So to Speak,” twice a week to Sun.Star Cebu, and a weekly column in Cebuano, “Pungko-pungko,” to Sun.Star Superbalita. Both columns are in the Sun.Star website of regional papers.

But it is as a nocturnal blogger that Obenieta, a longtime insomniac, finds the space to spread his wings like the manananggal, a bloodsucking creature from Filipino myth that has become a favorite metaphor of his.

Although he runs two personal blogs, another on international journalism, one on Asian cinema and a fanzine devoted to the Brillante Mendoza

Read More »from Portrait of the sundered Filipino as blogger

Text by Tracy Ignacio

Photos and Video by Mario Ignacio IV and Mario Espinosa, VERA Files

CAINTA, Rizal— Forty years ago, Sister Valeriana Baert, a Missionary Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, had dreamed of putting up a home where persons with disabilities could live and train after undergoing rehabilitation.

That home became Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, Inc. (TWH), which is now not just a haven for PWDs. It has expanded and now provides livelihood opportunities and other services for PWDs nationwide.

TWH currently houses around 50 PWDs, and has sheltered close to three thousand over the past four decades. But within its premises, it provides livelihoods and education to about 300. AT TWH, PWDs manufacture wheelchairs, educational toys, bags and other novelty items, and assemble packaging items for pharmaceutical companies.

Joy Cevallos Garcia, TWH’s chief operating officer and executive vice president said

TWH provides community- based rehabilitation and livelihood programs,

Read More »from Tahanang Walang Hagdanan at 40: reaching out to more PWDs