Circumcision1

By Homer Teodoro, VERA Files

Summer vacation in the Philippines is something young boys look forward to --- some of them with excitement, while others with fear and anxiety.

This is usually the time of the year when Filipino boys, usually from nine to 12 years of age, undergo circumcision, or what is generally regarded as their "rite of passage to manhood."

Many of these kids opt to avail of "Libreng Tuli Operation" or free circumcision usually offered  by medical missions  in the vacation months of April and May, ensuring enough time for the wound to heal before the school opening in June.

Although considered a minor surgery, circumcision (or genital incision) in a private clinic or hospital can cost up to P1,500 nowadays.

It has been reported that a single doctor circumcised more than 300 boys in one day at a town somewhere in the northern part of the Philippines as part of a medical mission.

The Napeñas Multi-Specialty Hospital, a private hospital  in the town of Concepcion,

Text, photos and video by VINCENT GO, VERA Files

Genetically modified organism walked the streets of Malate yesterday to dramatize the dangers of GMOs in food and the ecology, as environmentalists asked the Supreme Court to stop field trials of genetically modified talong (eggplant).

The parade of GMOs—activists dressed as GMO plants—took place after the Greenpeace press conference where it announced the filing at the Supreme Court of a petition for writ of kalikasan and writ of continuing mandamus against GMO field trials.

The petitions seek a temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) as a first step to stopping the multi-location field trials of the bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplant which is genetically altered with a gene from the Bt bacteria allowing it to produce its own pesticide.

Bt talong and other GMO crops are dangerous to human health, and the environment, Greenpeace said. Scientific tests on laboratory animals fed GMO food such as Bt eggplant have shown that GMOs

By Ellen Tordesillas

edith burgosOn April 28, 2007, past noon, Jonas Burgos was at Ever Gotesco Mall in Quezon City waiting for friends.  Before his friends came three military agents, one was a woman,  approached him and forcibly brought him out to a waiting vehicle. Jonas was never seen after that.

Jonas' mother, Edita, wife of  press freedom fighter Jose Burgos, Jr. (founder of  Malaya) issued the following statement  Thursday:

"April 28, 2012 marks the fifth year of the disappearance of my son, Jonas Burgos.  Jonas' family commemorates this day by looking back at the five years of search.  We recall how we have exhausted every possible peaceful means available to us within the limitations of resources and information.

"We have encountered numerous attempts at individual and institutional cover up and confronted these with more determination to uncover the truth.  The denials, the stone-walling, the labeling, all the lies and even the indifference have only encouraged us to pray some more and

Fish vendor Gamaya Macua, left, one of seven PWDs who registered to vote in Malaybalay City on April 17.

By Text and photo by WALTER BALANE, MindaNews and VERA Files

MALAYBALAY CITY, Bukidnon—Only seven out of at least 200 persons with disability in this city were able to register as voters during the special registration held earlier this month, illustrating the obstacles PWDs face just to be able to exercise their right to suffrage.

Local PWD groups lamented the lack of information dissemination by the Commission on Elections and local officials, as well as the difficulties PWDs face traveling from their residences to the registration area. The rotating brownouts in Mindanao aggravated the problem.

Among the seven who managed to register was 31-year-old Gamaya Macua, a fish vendor from Barangay Aglayan who lost her right leg in a vehicular accident in 2005 and now walks using an artificial leg.

Macua had to close her fish stall at the Aglayan public market just to be able to register. But she counts herself lucky compared to other PWDs who were unable to come or who came late because

Aquino at PPI 2012

It was crab talk at the two-day  16th National Press Forum of the  Philippine Press Institute at the Traders Hotel. President Aquino, who was the keynote speaker,  was the one who started it when he began his talk with a childhood anecdote about Filipino crabs:

"Ayon po sa kuwento, narinig ko po sa aking ama, sa loob daw po ng isang bar, umiinom ang isang Amerikano. Pumasok ang isang mangingisdang Pilipino na may dalang timba na puno ng alimango. Ibinaba niya ito, at ang sabi po ng Amerikano: "Buddy, your crabs are about to escape." Tiningnan lang po ng Pilipino. Ang sagot ng Pilipino, "Don't bother and don't fret; they're Filipino crabs. Before they get out, they'll be pulled back in." Walang raw pong makakaangat, kasi lahat sila naghahatakan pababa. Habang pinipilit ng ilang kababayan nating makaahon, siya namang sipag ng ilan na hilain siyang pababa."

All throughout his speech, he was whining about media not highlighting the accomplishments  of his almost two year administration.

Text and photos by Shiela Aballa, Video by Luis Liwanag, VERA Files

At SM Baguio, security guards don't just inspect bags of people entering the mall as part of their daily routine.

Nowadays, they also take pictures of protesters rallying against the mall's plan to remove more than 100 trees in Luneta Hill to pave the way for the construction of a parking lot and entertainment plaza.

"Sige lang! Kunan nyo lang kami at ipakita nyo sa mga boss nyo na marami rito! (Go! Just take pictures of us and show your boss that we are many here!)" Fortunato Galang, a protester from the University of the Philippines-Baguio (UPB) shouted while security guards were taking their pictures at the picket in front of the main entrance of SM Baguio on April 13.

One of the security guards of SM Baguio explained that taking pictures of the rallys its for record purposes was part of their job.

"May karapatan kaming gampanan ang tungkulin namin; may karapatan din silang gampanan ang tungkulin nila (We have the

Ruben Valdes

By Xianne S. Arcangel,VERA Files

The disposable bedroom slippers of a five-star hotel in Manila may be going straight to the black garbage bag after being worn by guests, but they are not headed for the dumpsite just yet.

Detainees who comprise the Makati City Jail Integrated Green Producers Cooperative (MIGCO) are helping the environment in their own creative way by turning such waste materials into fashionable and reusable items.

The thin, white slippers, which bear the embossed letter "S" logo of the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel, are re-fashioned by these green-minded inmates into colorful bedroom slippers that they sell for P30.

MIGCO, which claims to be Asia's first green cooperative for inmates, was jointly organized in 2011 by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), the Makati City government, the Makati Chamber of Commerce (MCC), and the Rotary Club of Makati EDSA.

According to MIGCO president Bong Espinocilla, the cooperative aims to "provide livelihood while saving

State Solicitor Jessica Magbanua, left, in wheelchair. (Photo by VINCENT GO)

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS, VERA Files

Elections Commissioner Rene Sarmiento is urging President Aquino to make history by appointing state solicitor Jessica S. Magbanua, a person with disability, to the Commission on Elections, replacing Augusto C. Lagman who was bypassed by the Commission on Appointments.

"Attorney Magbanua is a lawyer, a woman, a PWD," Sarmiento said at the launching last week of Fully Abled Nation, a campaign that aims to increase the participation of persons with disability in the 2013 elections. "All things considered, she would be an asset to the commission."

Sarmiento, the election body's focal person for PWDs and other vulnerable sectors, also said the Comelec is fully supporting the campaign to encourage PWDs to exercise their right to suffrage. He added that Magbanua, who has been active in the campaign, would be a big help.

State solicitor Jessica Magbanua

"She will be an eloquent voice for the vulnerables," said Sarmiento, who is himself retiring early next year, leaving another vacancy