STEPHANIE'S Journey to Mindanao & Manila in the Philippines

DAY 1, MANILA, MONDAY MARCH 26, 2007

2007-05-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: The following blog is about my personal journey and experiences. It does not reflect the opinions or sentiments of the Consuelo Foundation.

TO COMMENT DIRECTLY TO ME, MY EMAIL IS: castillosj@aol.com

Hello and welcome to my blog (BLOG: an internet diary or journal).

It gives me great pleasure to share with you an extraordinary trip I took as a guest filmmaker -- a trip back to my past, back to my mother's homeland, and into the world of the Consuelo Foundation. I wanted to tell of my experiences but also wanted to add some personal thoughts and factual information you might find interesting. It' s the journalist in me, I have to document! And it's the filmmaker in me, I have to show you through pictures.

After I completed my trip, it took me nearly two months to complete this blog. There was so much to say, too much to remember. Though lived in time, the blog will be timeless, forever telling this story for as long as it lives here on the Internet.

Many of you have asked and wondered what I was doing traveling to Manila and Muslim Mindanao,the southernmost part of the Philippines. It was a gift, a huge gift! Thanks to the Consuelo Foundation and their Hawaii and Philippine staff and board, a new world opened to me and I was very happy to document their visit to this fascinating area known for its dangers and armed conflicts. As you will see, we traveled safely. Read on, and you will see why.

So.... look at some of my blog today, and some tomorrow, but do come back. View my photos; read my thoughts. Read a little, or read alot. Or swallow the whole whale! I invite you dear family and friends to enter my profound and inspiring journey! Enjoy!!

SUNDAY, THE DAY BEFORE. Our welcome began with a board dinner at the foundation's condo and a splendid Filipino meal by housekeeper Lina. The condo sits on the 25th floor and overlooks the business district of Makati. Surrounding Makati and its tall buildings are Manila suburbs, some very old and some very, very new. Makati is my old stomping ground. It felt good to renew my connection to where I attended high school at the Amerrican School back in the late 60s. Our family had a 4-and-a-half year stay in Manila when my Hawaii-born, Filipino American father was stationed here as a U.S. military advisor. Fasten your seat belts! We're off and RUNNING!

MONDAY:
Briefing at the Consuelo Foundation offices. President and CEO Geri is the one who invited me to travel with the board to observe the work of their non-profit partners in Mindanao.
The board members making this trip are briefed by two consultants on Mindanao's socio-economic and peace and order situation. Specifically we are given the historical and current situations in the areas of Sulu, Basilan and Zamboana City, also know as areas in the ARMM, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

ARMM HISTORY: The southern Philippines has a long history of conflict that stretches back to the arrival of Islam in the 14th century. First colonized by Spain in the 16th century, it was later colonized by the United States in the late 1890s. Followers of Islam, called Moros by the Spanish, evaded Spain's domination for 300 years. They launched their war for national liberation in 1972 calling themselves Bangsamoro, or Moro nation and declaring these lands as ancestral domains. After a failed peace agreement with the Manila government in 1976, another agreement in 1996 gave the predominant Muslim areas a degree of self-rule by setting up their region up as ARMM, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The history of AARM is long and complicated. Once dominated by Muslims, it is now dominated by Christian settlers who came south for land and opportunity. Deep-seated prejudice divide these populations. And for almost 40 years, the people of AARM have lived with armed conflict led by rebel separatists/terrorist groups, including Abu Sayyef, which held strong in Jolo and Basilan since the early 1990s. They are best known for bombings and kidnappings and links to Al-Qaida.

SOME THOUGHTS: As we read up on AARM on the flight over, I was struck by the similarities of their struggle for independence and that of Native Hawaiians. Ancestral lands. Colonizers. Settlers and migrations to Hawaii. Marginalization and displacement of the indigenous population. The big difference of course, no kidnappings, no bombings, no armed struggle in Hawaii! We should be thankful for peace in our home and the willingness of Hawaiians to find non-violence solutions! Thanks to the lasting and powerful legacy of Queen Lili'uokalani, Hawaii's last reigning monarch who til this day call her people to peaceful ways.

LUNCH WITH THE CONSUELO FOUNDATION STAFF.
In this Manila office, there are some 30 staff here. During my two-week stay in the Philippines, I interacted with almost all of them on some level. Some were on the advance teams setting up our arrangements for when we arrived at certain destinations, others were program officers traveling with us to introduce us to partners funded by Consuelo.

And then we were off to the airport and an hour and a half flight to Zamboanga City. The consultant who briefed us on the Sulu province came with us.

Here is our Sulu consultant Vic with friend Haji standing near the Sulu sea at our Lantaka hotel. Haji was with us throughout our trip, as were other local escorts.

That night, a dinner meeting with the mayor and vice mayor of Zamboanga city at the Hai-san Seafood Restaurant. The night ended with karaoke performances by the mayor and some of the Consuelo staff.

SOME THOUGHTS: I always thought of Zamboanga City as a city I would want to visit one day. I am sure my first impressions are fairly meaningless and a longer stay would be needed to truly appreciate this city. But for now, on this first night, one strong memory are the tuk tuks (motor bikes with side cars) driving around at night with no lights (saving their batteries) and somehow safely and skillfully maneuvering the streets like a ballet in darkness. By day, the city is alive, and these days being election time the streets are littered with "vote for" signs.

DAY 2 in SUBA, TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2007

2007-05-29T00:37:00.000-07:00

SULU
PROVINCE
Once a sultanate state that existed for 5 centuries (1450 to 1915), Sulu was the only native power that survived the onslaught of Spanish colonialism. Its sultan gave up his power to American colonial rule (late 1890s), and later Sulu became part of the Philippines republic in 1946,

The Sulu province and archipelago stretches south toward Malaysia and consists of more than 157 islands and islets. It has 18 municipalities, 10 of which are on the main island of Jolo; the other 8 are other islands in the province. About a third of the region's population is composed of ethnic people.

These groups, usually erroneously classified under the general heading of Muslims, are actually distinct from each other in culture. The three dominant cultural groups are 85% Tausugs, 8% Sama and 3% Badjao.

Like other areas in the AARM, Sulu is a conflict area and one of the poorest provinces in the Philippines.

Consuelo Foudation and its non-profit partners in Sulu have targeted the people of this region, especially the Badjaos, who are the most marginalized, for assistance. Often referred to as the Philippine "sea gypsies", the Badjaos, until recently, spent their lives on their small boats which frequented the waters surrounding the numerous islands of the Sulu Archipelago. There are approximately 10,000 families in the area. The primary means of livelihood is fishing; many now engage in seaweed farming.

Lantaka Hotel, Zamboanga City 4am wake up call. Breakfast at 5am.

See the shell sellers below my balcony. The area is known for its beautiful and somewhat rare shells.

ZAMBOANGO FACTS:
Calling itself Asia's Latin City, this coastal town boasts a multi-cultural heritage -- Malay, Spanish and American. Spain's three-century rule left its mark here more than any other area of the Philippine archipelago. It's native language is its own -- Chabacano, a mix of Spanish and native words. As far back as the 13th century, this was a vibrant and colorful trading center. Buenos dias is still the common greeting of the day.

TO READ MORE ON THE ZAMBOANGA PENINSULA AND SULU, CLICK HERE.

OFF TO JOLO

615am, we board SeaAir for Jolo Island in Sulu province. The humidity is so thick at this early morning, you can see the hovering wetness. Arrive Jolo Island at 730am.

Complimentary security was provided by local governments throughout our days of travel in Sulu province.

Today Philippine Marines greet us, and our party loads onto three vans. Though there is mostly peace down here, it is still dangerous ground, especially for Americans and other foreigners.

SUBA ISLAND
Proceed to Jolo Pier. Board a kumpit (boat) owned by the governor of Jolo to Suba Island, and the municipality of Panglima, Tahil where we will visit an early childhood education center and school donated by Consuelo Foundation in 1996 and which has since been turned over to the Dept. of Education.

A security escort boat accompanied us.

SUBA ISLAND in the
Hadji Panglima Tahil area, which is a municipality in the province of Sulu, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, this island municipality has a population of 5,314 people in 807 households.
As of 2000, is was the poorest municipality in the Philippines with a poverty incidence estimate of 89.7%. (Wikipedia)

A photographer's dream, the small island of Suba presents a portrait of quaint beauty and charm. The shallow blue waters are crystal clear; beds of seagrass or seaweed sit in peace, awaiting their harvest.

Greeting us are the children and teachers and parents of Suba.

In Suba, the houses are linked by pathways of wooden boards. At low tide, the poles upon which the houses are built are exposed and waters lap gently. There is no fresh water here; water is brought in by boat and sold at 10 pesos (25 cents) for a two-gallons can.

Here you can see the seaweed growing beneath this platform where the harvested seaweed is drying.

You can see a small boat. No hummers here.

At the Suba Elementary School, the children perform dances and songs for Consuelo's board and staff. Notice the bamboo slats that make up their school house floor. With such a large assembly, it felt precarious to even walk across the floor to get my shots.

Kits of school supplies were handed to the teachers and children. Three dedicated and enthusiastic young teachers receive them with big smiles of gratitude. The principal is a Christian Tausug sympathetic to the Badjaos' situation.

Some board members visit the medical center, while others do home visits.

As we get ready to depart, I notice this sign and take a closer look.

It says that the US and Philippine governments jointly fund a seaweed solor-drying project.

It is one of "dances of hope" in this Mindanao island region to aid and bring development to communities as a way to address problems of population pressures, poverty, poor infrastucture and to bring opportunities for more economic growth. All this to help manage Mindanao's conflicts over the years.

The active peace movement in Sulu and throughout Mindanao reflects the strength of the commitment by civil governments, non-profits and citizens to forge a sustainable peace.

SOME THOUGHTS: In this idyllic village, I commented to someone how blue and clear the waters are. How deceptive! I was told that in these waters of seaweed beds, and with no septic sytem for sewage, human waste mingles with the seaweed. Once harvested and "cleaned" in some kind of process, it is sold to buyers who then fill the demand for seaweed food products beyond Philippine shores. Hmmm.

DAY 2 -- TAKUT-TAKUT, MARCH 27, 2007

2007-05-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

HEAT, THAT HEAT THAT HEAT

Pat me on the back. I never complained about the heat. You just don't, it doesn't get you any cooler! The hat helped, the sunscreen too, though there were times I lit up red in the face.

My saving grace was a little battery-operated fan that I brought with me that I hung around my neck like a big IPOD on a cord; it blew air up from its top to my neck and face. On airplanes and inside ferries and vans with faulty air-conditioners, it was my salvation. That and Gatorade and ice water, always available in coolers packed by Consuelo staff. Cotton clothes and cotton underwear helped too.

A friend in Wash DC who grew up in the Philippines calls his former homeland "the armpit of the world." Just don't think about the HEAT, keep going and ignore it; it won't go away, so let go, give in, be enveloped. It's that heat, that heat that heat that heat.

Above, that's Ernestino behind me in the other hat, one of our local escorts. He was like this silent friend watching out for us, for me. That's why I took his picture here.

TAKUT-TAKUT on Jolo Island

After out kumpit ride back to Jolo, we traveled by vans to a small village just behind this mosque in an area called Takut-Takut.
Like Suba, it too is built on stilts, but very close quarters for the hundreds who live here. Water is brought in by small black hoses that run along with sides of the main street. Children are everywhere. Little sari sari (food) stores are on every corner. And below trash floats mixing with waste andwater from the sea. Like Suba, its waste water is a playground for the kids. :-( On this hot day, kids were splashing away.

Walking to the school, we had to walk carefully on wooden slats, the village pathway. These were boards laid down side by side, sometimes nailed down, sometimes not. Below us was the water.

We visted Takut-Takut Early Childhood Education Center where the children entertained us. Crowded in with us in a small class room were teachers and town officials. The kids were very grateful for our visit and the small gifts of supplies that board members presented to the teachers. The children, dressed in native Muslim costumes, danced for us as board members placed pesos on the children's clothes -- a Filipino tradition!

Board members also made home visists and went to the health center. Supported by Consuelo, the education center was turned over to the Social Welfare Dept. and the local government.

SOME THOUGHTS: Seeing the children playing in waste water where I knew there was more than just tossed trash really hit me. I was told the problem of proper sewage disposal here has been a municipality problem for decades. For the poorest of the poor, they are last to be rescued, it seems! As I reflected on this problem here in Takut-Takut and in Suba, I reminded myself that tragically there are thousands of towns and villages around the world just like this -- kids playing in sewage and waste. What's worse is that it's ok with the world. Hello Bill and Melinda Gates!!!!! Hello world!!!

A lunch stop: Sanyang Multi-Purpose Cooperative, lunch with officers, members and beneficiaries. Sorry no photos. Formed in 1995 with Consuelo help and also help from UNICEF and Notre Dame of Jolo College Community Extension Service (several other funders came on board as well), the program is now self-reliant. Income from its credit and production services is enough to cover operational expenses. It has helped 2,000 Badjao families in 13 Badjao communities. It has 600 members, mostly Badjao, who have helped improve living and economic conditions with effective economic development.

A JOLO OF AN IMPRESSION:

Jolo is the center of operation of a number of Islamic insurgent groups and where decades of war between the Philippine goverment and separatist movements have kept this area the poorest in the Philippines. 10,000 Philippine troops are deployed here. They are everywhere indeed! In 1902, America sent troops here to attempt to quell a brewing rebellion. It took the US almost 15 years to "pacify" Muslim trouble spots in Jolo and other parts of Mindanao. This campaign became known as the Moro-American war.

NEWS FLASH (am writing this blog today, April 14, and just got this email from our Sulu consultant. How eerie since we were just in Jolo and I am just writing about the military presence!):

<<Very extensive fighting has broken out in Jolo between the MNLF and the military. We are still trying to assess the extent of the displacement on the civilian population. I am currently in Manila but will be leaving for Jolo on Tuesday.>> (News report said 2 Philippine Marines died and 1 child.)

On the road again.
Next stop: Bato-Bato -- Abu Sayyef once??? ruled here.

Day 2 -- BATO-BATO, MARCH 27, 2007

2007-05-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

BATO-BATO, a collection of shacks on stilts and some concrete houses set between the sea and banana plantations, coconut palms and bamboo forests. A bastion of Islamic rebels. That's how a recent Reuter's article discribed this little coastal hamlet.

This area has experienced recurring armed conflict involving Muslim separatist groups and terrorists, like the Abu Sayaf who engage in battles with the Philippine military. Entire communities have been uprooted, some taking refuge in Bato-Bato, Indanan. Extensive damage to intrastructure and to the social life of this area resulted as these armed groups established camps in the jungles.

A few weeks before we arrived, a joint humanitarian effort by US forces and Philippine forces took place in Bato-Bato. Here is an edited account:

American troops rout terrorists in southern Philippines with love and stealth
The Associated Press, Published: March 4, 2007. Edited here for this blog.
INDANAN, Philippines:
Forbidden from local combat by the Philippine constitution, U.S. troops embarked on humanitarian work to wean villagers from terrorism and trained its high-tech surveillance equipment to track militants.
The combination has been lethal for the Abu Sayyaf, a small but brutal group that has launched deadly terror attacks across the country.
Philippine troops killed Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani last September and his presumed successor Abu Sulaiman in January in Jolo partly helped by America's technical backup, according to the two security officials, who had knowledge of the operations. A closing ceremony for a two-week humanitarian mission by hundreds of U.S. and Filipino troops Saturday in Jolo's poor Bato-Bato coastal village in Indanan town showcased the extent of the Americans' rapport with villagers.
Villagers waved at and cheered on soldiers in a U.S. military convoy like they were movie stars. "Hey Joe, OK Joe," they yelled. Hundreds of grade school students waved small U.S. and Philippine flags as U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney and Filipino officials arrived.
Mortar rounds exploded and gunshots crackled in Indanan's hinterlands about two weeks ago in what appeared to be a clash between Abu Sayyaf gunmen and Filipino troops.
Indanan's jungle mountains have been a sanctuary to the Abu Sayyaf and other gunmen for years. They often ambush troops and others on a hillside road, dubbed the "highway of death," officials say. Nowadays, the gunmen rarely bother Indanan, a town of about 50,000 on Jolo island in Sulu province.
The fight against the Abu Sayyaf and the appalling poverty that breeds it is far from over, according to officials. A lack of water, lack of electricity, crushing poverty, widespread sentiments of being a minority and high illiteracy rate foster armed conflicts on Jolo. These debilitating conditions are the worst in the Philippines.

When we arrived, curious villagers gathered in what felt like the town's center, a dirt courtyard near to the building where we would be meeting the young people involved in the Make A Connection project funded in part by Consuelo. The purpose of the project is to nurture future leaders.

Idealistic and idle young Tausugs in this area are particularly vulnerable to the influence of the armed separatists and terrorists groups. Here they share with the Consuelo board their progress, frustrations and needs.

Some 38 Tausug youth are part of the Phil. Indigenous Youth Leadership Training Program.

Oversight is by Fr. Jose Ante, director of the Social Action Center in Jolo, who is known for promoting socio-economic development programs such as this one.

The project asserts that improved life skills would help the youth to better connect with their community and give them a better understanding and appreciation of their community and their Muslim culture.

They engage in livelihood projects of their own choosing, such as goat and chicken raising, and from this are able to earn at least the equivalent of the local minimum wage.

SOME THOUGHTS: This is the battle line, I thought. Getting and keeping these kids of Bato Bato and other Indanan hamlets out of the hands of the likes of Abu Sayef. Raising

goats and chickens might give them a taste of the better future they are longing for; but hope is like a receding tide when progress is slow and the promises of economic well-being are but a thin thread at times because of a backyard war. In the lives of kids like these, funding to help them succeed is a desperate need if the effort to keep them out of war is to be effective. Pray for the youth of Bato-Bato if you think of them. May the humanitarian efforts of fixing this broken town and its life continue to help.

REFUGEE CENTER

Before leaving Bato-Bato, the Board walks over to a nearby school where a small group of refugees are staying after fleeing an armed conflict near their farms.

This farmer returns to his farm by day, not sure when it is safe to bring his family back home.

Uprooted but smiling, refugees talk to board members about the care given to them here. Food, bedding and safety inside these walls are about all they have as they wait it out.

CHICKS AND CHICKENS
We stopped to look at the livelihood project involving growing and selling chickens by the Bato-Bato youth. The coops with hundreds of chicks growing under lights is behind this building.

TECH TRAINING

Then it was on to the nearby Provincial Training and Livelihood Center where we observed out-of-school youth learning trade/industry skills. The project, supported by Consuelo, offers courses in welding, electricity, electronics, small engine repair and other mechanical repairs. Fr. Ante and the Social Action Center of Jolo were responsible for getting it up and running.

DUSK

After a very long and packed-filled DAY 2 that started at 4am, a cold shower and a nap were a welcomed salve on my tired body. Lodging us was Fr. Ante at his Bishop's Notre Dame Compound near Jolo airport and the Notre Dame community college.

Dinner that night was under the stars and featured seafood delicacies such as Sulu crab. The night was kind. It was cool and the fan in my room added to the relief from the long day's heat. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

WHAT'S THAT?????

Our wake up call was 6:30am. Sleeping soundly, my roomate Amy and I were awakened by a sound that at first I did not recognize. It's hard to describe something if you've never heard it live before. I'd heard it in movies and on TV, but I have never heard this sound live. I lay there for a few seconds, both waking up and trying to figure out what I was hearing. Then I remembered where we were -- Muslim country! "Amy, are you awake???" "Yes, what is that sound?" "Amy, it's the call to prayer, the 5 am call to prayer from a nearby mosque." "Oh", she said. The call to prayer, probably a recording that was being played over a loud LOUD speaker, continued as we lay there listening. Then a thought came to me. "Amy, let's get up. Let's get up and pray. Let's use this time to pray also." She agreed, and I moved to sit at the side of her bed, and we took this time to hear our stories of how God had reached into our lives, and we prayed for our day, for more safety and protection and for blessings as we traveled. The call of prayer had called us too!!

DAY 3, ZAMBOANGA CITY, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2007

2007-05-26T01:26:00.000-07:00

FAREWELL JOLO,

HELLO ZAMBOANGA CITY

Before departing Jolo, we did a little shopping. Near where we stayed the night, this small shop of cottage industry goods, supports the livelihood of local craftpersons. It's part of Fr. Ante's socio-economic development programs.

Not for sale. Just posing. The gun is not a toy but belongs to the Philippine soldier with us in the shop.

Our parting shot as we were leaving Fr. Ante and the Bishop's compound.

JOLO AIRPORT. Goodbyes to the Marines and local escorts who watched over us.

And then......
BACK IN ZAMBOANGA CITY.

The day is filled with site visits, among them a women and child protection unit at Zamboanga Medical Center. No photos. Here victims of physical and sexual abuse are evaluated and examined by a doctor and others trained in sex abuse evaluation.

PLOUGHSHARES YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROJECT

Here, selected out-of-school youth are trained and assisted in getting business loans. They are provided with technical assistance by local businesses during a period where the businesses they want to engage in are incubating (growing into something feasible).

Here Consuelo board members and staff hear the students' plans and give feedback.

CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION NETWORK (CAPIN)

We were hosted for lunch at a conference of 20 government and private agencies systematically coordinating a project involved in issues affecting the lives of abused children. Consuelo has 22 CAPINs operating in the Philippines.

Here Consuelo staffer Jim holds up my malong. We were all given them as gifts by the CAPIN members.

These malong are large sarongs with their edges sewn together so that the material forms a tube that can be worn as a skirt or dress or a sarong. The designs are traditional Muslim geometric patterns.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT CENTER
Rescued from the streets or situations of abuse, or in trouble with the law, these children are living in a center whose goal is to ultimately return them to normal life.

The center is an arm of the city of Zamboanga and is fully funded by the local government.

Dances native to Zamboanga as well as the dance of the young today (done to a Britney Spears song) are presented to the Consuelo board.

Consuelo staffers brought in gallons of ice cream and scooped as fast as they could with the kids clamoring for their cones and creating a near riot in the kitchen. A joyful moment for all.

Some of us toured the facility and found it a safe, clean haven from the streets.

SOME THOUGHTS: After the dancing and the ice cream, as we began to take photos of the kids, they wanted to be photographed together with their friends. The bonds were obviously important; some of us created a few more bonds. Hugs were welcomed, and you could feel that the bigger the hug the better. Because I am of Filipino ancestry, I especially felt a kinship wih these kids. They look so much like my mother's kin in the Philippines. Poor and looking for a way to "get out". If my mother had not married an American Filipino from Hawaii after WWII, would I have been born poor too???? By the grace of God.......

This part of the day ended with a nap in my air conditioned room at the Lantaka Hotel where our Zamboanga journey had begun. That night, a fancy dinner included traditional dances from the Mindanao and Sulu regions, performed by a cultural group, Jambangan, from Western Mindanao State University. (Sorry, no photos, I was shooting video.) A report commissioned by Consuelo was presented -- a study of peace-building initiatives through youth-oriented programs in Mindanao, an effort to learn and promote peace-building in this island region.

A massage and a shower, and then it was ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ time, with a 5am wake up call.

DAY 4, BASILAN, MARCH 29,2007

2007-05-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippine archipelago is made up of 7,107 islands; located in Southeastern Asia between the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, east of Vietnam.

Sulu Province, the 500 islands and islets of the province stretch 190 miles from Borneo to Philippines and form both a geological and a historical bridge between the two. The region has scarcely been touched by tourism, and few Filipinos in the north even take much interest in these remote islands.

BASILAN PARADISE,

BASILAN PARADOX

6:45am Zamboanga Pier

We board a ferry for Basilan island, about a 45 minute ride. The pier is just across the waters from our Lantaka Hotel, nestled in those palm trees you can see on the rightside of this photo. Our ferry was packed, with workers from Zamboanga City heading to Basilan. I sat at the back of the ferry, outside, to take in the beauty and calm of the morning.

"DON'T GO, DON'T GO!" Why??

Don't go! We were warned by various security sources. The Mindanao region, especially the ARRM region, has carried this warning for all Americans and tourists for many years now, even as cities like Zamboanga and islands like Jolo and Basilan have tried to shake the stigma. The threat? When asked, many cry, "Muslims! Muslims!!" Since the Islamic Muslims of Mindanao have been twarting outsider (Spanish, Dutch, French, Americans) dominance for centuries, their notoriety as warriors and fighters has stuck.

It is here also that the the Philippine Government faces threats from three terrorist groups on the US Government's Foreign Terrorist Organization list. In 2006 and 2007 the government's military scored some major successes in capturing or killing key wanted terrorists. Decades of Muslim insurgency in the southern Philippines have led to a peace accord with one group and an ongoing cease-fire and peace talks with another. The Philippine government has stationed troops by the thousands throughout Mindanao and Sulu. At the same time, USAID/Philippines is infusing the region with development projects involving infrastrucure building and education programs to help the vulnerable youth and insurgents tired of warring who want to return to a normal life. There are rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front or MILF, which is fighting for an independent Muslim state.

There are also renegade rebels from the Moro National Liberation Front or MNLF. Once the largest Islamic separatist group in the Philippines, the MNLF signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government in 1996, but not all its members agreed.

And then there is the Abu Sayyaf, made up of Islamic fundamentalists -- extremists compared to the MILF and MNLF -- and renegade members of both. For almost 30 years, these groups have been engaged in an insurgency for the formation of an Islamic state, independent of the predominantly Christian Philippines.

Basilan is the birthplace of Abu Sayyaf,which has "franchised" its members to surrounding islands like Jolo (where one of the groups of Abu Sayyaf kidnapped tourists from a Malaysian resort in 2001 and allegedly received millions of dollars in ransom). The Basilan Abu Sayyaf are fiercer, more dogmatic, more violent.

Some 32 kidnapped foreigners and hundreds of Filipinos have, at one time or another, been in the custody and control of Abu Sayyaf, according to one report dated 2002.

We arrived an hour after our leaving Zamboanga City at Basilan island, following its northern coast for some 20 minutes, passing pole villages and thick jungles along the way.

BASILAN'S capital is Isabela City, which was our destination. Though the island is surrounded by an abundant sea and fertile lands with virgin forrests, 75% of the island's food supply has to be imported from nearby provinces. Why? Land is the problem. Some 330,000 people inhabit this land of diverse cultures. Muslims make up 71% of the population, yet Christian settlers most of whom came here in the early 1900s from the north to work for American and European planations (Dole, Firestone, and the like), own 75% of the land. Compounding the land problem, the Chinese control 75% of business.

Greeting our ferry were these two little boys who called to us to throw our coins, which they would dive for.

Also greeting us at the pier were staff members of the Nagdilaab Foundation, a partner with Consuelo Foundation that is wroking to uplift the socieo-economic conditions of those who are marginalized in Basilan. Priorities are literacy and education, development of a culture of peace, and micro-finance projects.

Consuelo specifically funds a project that integrates technical education and employment.

Also greeting us were our escorts, PI Marines, compliments of the local security system.

Never did we feel unsafe, nor did we have any incidents to worry us on this island, home of Abu Sayyaf.

FARMLAND RESORT

Our one-day visit to Isabela City can hardly be called a visit to Basilan. The island is 533 square miles of mostly agricultural lands. It has six municipalities with 261 baranguys (towns/villages). Our convoy sped up the slopes of Isabela, passing various rubber planations and farming estates.

What a surprise to find a quaint resort up in the hills, the Farmland Resort where we would have breakfast, an orientation session with Nagdibaab Foundation, and then lunch and a Yakan cultural program.

Farmland Resort runs a youth training program where students learn aspects of running a tourism/hotel service business, including wait/waitress training and food service.

TOURISM? Virtually none, although I was told that every now and then a foreign couple will come and stay for a few days, sometimes for a few weeks. For some travelers, Basilan's allure is its white sand beaches; apparently Francis Ford Coppola filmmed parts of APOCALYPSE NOW on Basilan (mentioned here and there in internet stories).

Here some of the Farmland youth selling their souvenirs and Yakan wares -- another way to teach tourism as a trade.

Basilan is popular for the Yakan cloth, which ethnic Yakans weave from bright-colored threads. These cloths are also symbolizes of peace and unity.

At Farmland, Christians and Muslims work together.

BASILAN YOUTH (ages 6-24):
Only 44% (70,710) attend school, while 56% (89,985) are out of school. Why? Very few employment opportunities due to stagnant industries. When youth are trained, they are assisted in getting employment on mainland Mindanao or abroad.

We heard from the Nagdibaab Foundation head, Miriam Suacito, a trained psychologist who organizes trauma-healing sessions for war widows and orphans and for former hostages of the Abu Sayyaf.

We also heard from several youth who have benefitted from the Integrated Educational Assistance for Out-of-School Youth in Basilan. 288 have graduated; 173 of them are employed or self-employed.

And from the Make A Connection: Nurturing Future Leaders project.
Through this Nagdilaab and Consuelo project, 21 youth are engaged in livelihood projects; 7 are enrolled in formal school; 6 are employed (2 local, 4 abroad); 2 are teaching; and others are engaged in community work.

THE RIDE INTO ISABELA CITY

SOME THOUGHTS: How much of Isabela City we saw, I don't know. It was straight to our destination, and right back to Farmland for lunch. What I can tell you is that what I saw impressed me. This may be among the poorest places in the Philippines, but it can proudly claim it is one of the cleanest. When I became aware of the cleaniness of the city, I asked one of our guides about it, having been used to seeing the squalor elsewhere. Apparently, a government program that awards baraguays (villages) for their efforts to keep clean and look clean is at work here. Even so, you can't make people do it if they don't want to. What I saw in this cleanliness was a pride in who these people are and in where they live. Indeed, apart from the poverty and Abu Sayyaf casting a shadow over this island, and with its slow progress towards economic prosperity, Basilan seemed to me a perfect paradise -- beautiful from mountain to shoreline, a potential ecotourist spot. Ah the paradox.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION CENTER

A short visit to meet the students and see their center. We saw no women here; not sure if it's exclusively for boys or that girls are just not that into welding and things.

I was told by one of the teachers as we were leaving that they really need computers to train on.

Then a stop at Infante hospital, where Nagdilaab Foundation sends trainees (no photos).

Another stop at the offices of Nagdilaab Office where we met students and saw some of the art created using bullet casings. Turning war into peace. Angels were my favorite transformation of these bullet sculptures. (sorry, no photos)

LUNCH TIME AT FARMLAND

Let's talk food. Yes, we ate and ate and ate wonderful regional cuisine. There were no bad meals; I'd say all of it was equally good, sometimes exotic, but mainly foods I was used to my mom cooking for our family.

Let me quote Carlos V. Francisco from the website PAGKAING PINOY:
Philippine cuisine is as diverse as the different cultural groups that make up the Filipino people. It is flavored by a rich variety of herbs and spices found all over the islands. Aside from the many tropical fruits and vegetables grown in the mountains and plains, fish, meat and poultry are also a major part of the Filipino diet. Rice is a staple food.
Contact with foreign cultures resulted in interesting blends of flavors with Philippine cuisine. Spanish and Chinese cooking are among the many influences on Filipino food preparation. http://www.seasite.niu.edu/TAGALog/Tagalog_Default_files/Philippine_Culture/Pagkaing%20Pilipino/Philippine_cuisine_fs.htm

Our time at Farmland ended with a performance of Muslim dances from this region. In the dances of the Moro (Muslim) tradition, the colorful costumes transport you back in time and the sound of gongs, when they are a part of a dance, take you to rhthmic movements unique to the Muslim culture. The Yakan dances we saw here are among the colorful contributions of Basilan and other areas Mindanao and Sulu. Muslim ethnic dances and music are known for their mysticism, royalty. Their dances involve complicated hand and foot movements. Accompanied by the agong and kulintang, Filipino Muslim dance is marked by not only intricate hand and arm movement but also with shimmering costumes. To see a beautiful website dedicated to Muslim dances of the Philippines, go to this link:

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/tagalog/Cynthia/dances/muslim_mindanao_dances.htm

If you'd like to see this "plate" dance in motion, the West Mindanao State U Jambangan Cultural Dance Troupe from Zamboanga City is captured in this youtube.com video below. The dance is entitled "NGEDEK "(Bangku & Platu) from the Yakans of Basilan. The troupe performed this for us at a dinner we had on Day 3 at the Lantaka Hotel.

SOME THOUGHTS: I grew up in a Filipino American family that had very little exposure to traditional Filipino culture because we were Americans first, Hawaii-born second, and Filipinos last. Every now and then we would see a Philippine dance troupe or attend a Filipino event that celebrated our culture through traditional dances. We were observers; that is until we went to live in the Philippines. My dad's new station was a US military advisory group (JUSMAG) in Quezon City, and we would live there from 1963 to 1967 when we returned to Hawaii. I spent all four years of high school there, at the American School in Makati. Most of my friends were either the Americans at the high school or the rich Filipinos we hung with. Living in the Philippines brought my mother's homeland culture all that more close to us. My sisters and I felt the culture permeating our skins in many ways. From foods to PI relatives to our new lifestyle, our immersion in to Philippine life was real and lasting.

I recall one experience that has stayed with me. My mom "enrolled" us girls to take part in a Filipino pageant, and for the first time I dressed in Philippine costume -- a country girl with a simple Philippine plaid skirt and a barong top (I think they call them kimona today). My sisters and I, in costume, followed a script that ended in us doing a few Filipino dances that we had learned. I never felt more Filipino! And so when I saw these dances in Basilan, it brought me back to that moment. Not that I had danced the same dances but that I remembered dancing something Filipino. How strong our DNA memories can be!

BEFORE LEAVING FARMLAND, some of us were treated foot massages by students studying reflexology.

I thought, I'd like to return here one day and stay to experience Basilan and this resort, and see the progress made by the students. I especially thought of my sister Terri, a world traveler who I know would appreciate the beauty and remoteness of this place. Mom would like it too; it feels like her kind of place. Clean, cultured and beautiful.

DAY 5, MANILA. FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2007

2007-05-24T03:12:00.000-07:00

SLEEPING IN.

It felt great to sleep beyond 6 am after four continuous days of rising very early. Our housekeeper Lina at the condo where I was staying had a Filipino breakfast awaiting those of us rooming here. Fresh, sliced-open mangoes and Lina's tasty rice porridge with garlic and topped with boiled eggs helped us greet this new morning.

Amy and I took our time getting ready. I put on more citified clothes and put away my clunky black walking shoes and cotton t-shirts -- the dress of an inconspicuous filmmaker wandering among the poorest of the poor.

Off and running, we arrived at the Visayan Forum Safehouse at around 10:15 am.

Greeting us was Cecile Flores-Oebanda, the executive director of Visayan Forum. The safehouse is a lovely residential home in nearby Quezon City for women and children who are victims of trafficking and who have agreed to stay long term to pursue their case against traffickers.

Cecile started out our visit with a PowerPoint presentation explaining the Visayan Forum and its wide reach into the Philippines to snag traffickers, especially in port cities. Most of the victims come from poor rural communities whose parents have no idea that they have handed their children over to harmful programs that intend to traffick (sell and enslave the young as domestic workers and sex trade workers). Thinking these children can help send money home to their families, little do these parents know what danger their children really face.

At this safehouse, we met some of the girls that escaped or were rescued from such schemes. One group of girls told of how after they finished the day's work they were locked in a room and for five years were kept from contacting their families. They never given cash and were told it was being held for them. They told us of their escape -- tying sheets together and then climbing down eight stories!!! The girls want to help prosecute their abductors but fear two things: putting their families back home in jeopardy and having to endure a legal process that may last up to 5 years. While they bond with each other and learn skills to help them stand on their own one day, it's not uncommon for some of them to leave the safe house.

VISAYAN FORUM HALF WAY HOUSE After our visit to the safehouse, we headed to the half way house located near the docks and piers of Manila Bay. At other piers around the Philippines, Visayan Forum and its partners against child trafficking have mobilized and trained the port community -- port police, ship companies, dock workers and their unions -- to be aware of potential or actual trafficking situtations. By raising the level of understanding of these port workers and officials, Visayan Forum helped establish the Multi-Sectoral Network Against Trafficking in Persons, "a national civil society-led initiative that aims to provide direct action, build capacities of partners, advocate for policy reforms and network. " This day we met newly rescued young girls. They were unbelievably young, some of them made up and dressed to attract. They seemed to be in a daze and some were filled with fear and confusion but were grateful to share their stories, their ordeal with us. SOME STATS: Since 2001, a total of 10,523 victims and potential victims of human trafficking in the Philippines have been served in the Port Halfway Houses, the partnership program between the Visayan Forum Foundation and the Philippine Ports Authority. The numbers may be even higher, however, because of the difficulty in accurately tracking numbers in all the country's regions. Globally, the number of victims of human trafficking in 2003 alone has reached 1.2 million, according to statistics from the International Labor Organization. (technology.inquirer.net)

SOME THOUGHTS: I've heard of this problem of trafficking for years now but never got close to it like I did this day. Cecile is a real hero. Posted on the walls of the port safehouse were dozens of newspaper clippings hailing her a hero in this work. She was a recipient of the 2005 Anti-Slavery Award for her efforts in child trafficking in domestic work. I wanted to let you read her own words from an article written on March 23, just a few days before we arrived for this 17th Consuelo board trip. If you will read it, you will get some of the education I did. But you won't feel the same feelings I felt looking into the very eyes of victims who lived it and survived. My arms just wanted to embrace them and take them away from the pain of it all. Once rescued, or escaping, the next hard thing faces them. Confronting and accusing their captors and risking great harm to themselves and their families. Some will be heroic and some just won't because they can't. My heart and prayers go out to them all and to all women the world over caught in this net of deceipt and evil because of their naivety and vulnerability.

The Stark Reality of Human Trafficking in the PhilippinesMarch 23, 2007
The modus operandi is almost always the same - sweet-talking recruiters entice parents to allow their young daughters to leave the provinces and work in Manila as domestic helpers with promises of huge salaries. But once the girls arrive in Manila, the story turns sour with many of them ending up in forced labour or prostitution. Worse, they are “trained” for “export” to other countries to work as prostitutes.

“Trafficking in the Philippines has two faces - one is for local consumption and the other for abroad,” said Cecilia Flores Oebanda, president of Visayan Forum Foundation, a non-governmental organization working for the welfare of migrants. “Women are first recruited to Manila, where they are trained for deployment abroad,” she said. “They are taught how to undress, they are bleached, beautified, then initiated into the sex trade with foreigners as their first customers.” “That’s what they call on-the-job training while their papers are fixed for travel abroad,” she told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in an interview.

As the government and such organizations as Visayan Forum step up the fight against human trafficking, the lure of a better life, a culture that accepts child labour as long as parents consent to it, abject poverty and the government’s labour-export policy still fuel the modern-day slavery and lead to estimated tens of thousands of Filipinos, mostly women and children, being trafficked every year.

Due to its continued notoriety as a source, transit and destination country for trafficked persons, the Philippines has remained on the US State Department’s tier 2 list of countries that do not fully comply with international standards against human trafficking but are making significant progress to fight the problem.

The Philippines used to be in the tier 2 watchlist but saw its status improve in 2006 after seven of 186 legal cases filed from 2003 to 2006 resulted in convictions. Oebanda said the Philippine government’s continued deployment of Filipino workers, mostly as domestic helpers, around the world, whose wages are a much needed source of revenue for the country, was exposing Filipino women and children to the dangers of trafficking. She noted that even Filipinos with overseas work permits could end up being trafficked. “Some of them secure work permits, but is their job really the work that they asked the permit for?” she asked. “We are worried and alarmed that our major source of income is people that we send out as migrants. We lack protective mechanisms and this adds to the vulnerability of people.”

The Victims Oebanda said recruiters often prey on young women between 12 and 22 years old. The victims are usually school dropouts, looking for jobs or a way out of the provinces. “Some women just want to get out of the provinces,” she said. ”They want to come to Manila or any urban centre. They flock to urban centres, where there is a perceived notion of better opportunities waiting for them.”

Gladys, 19, left her home province of Surigao del Norte in the southern Philippines for the central city of Cebu in the hopes of finding a job to help her poor family. The youngest girl in a brood of five said she was recruited by a relative to work as a domestic helper but ended up as a waitress in a nightclub frequented by foreign tourists in a red-light district in Cebu City. “I wanted to experience life in a city and how it is like to have a job,” she told dpa. “I also thought that if I can work, it would be a great help to my parents.” Dressed in skimpy attires every night, she often receives indecent proposals from customers who grab and touch her even without her consent while serving drinks or food at their tables. For three months, the advances escalated, and she said she feared she would end up like other girls in the bar who not only work as waitresses but also dance half-naked and perform sexual services. Unable to stand the exploitation, she approached Visayan Forum and asked for help. She is now undergoing computer training to help her achieve her goal of becoming a teacher.

Other girls are not as lucky as Gladys. In some cases, Visayan Forum has rescued young women locked up in rooms where they are forced to have sex with as many as 20 men every night. “The operator of the prostitution house counts the men the girls had serviced by the number of condoms on the floor,” Oebanda said. Even women who end up working as domestic helpers also sometimes face sexual abuse from their male bosses. Elena was only 15 when her parents traded her for 500 pesos (10 dollars) to a recruitment agency in the southern province of Misamis Oriental. In one of her many jobs as a domestic helper, Elena was raped repeatedly by her male employer when his wife went on vacation to the United States. The abuse continued for quite some time until she was let go by the couple and returned to the recruitment agency. “When I asked for help from my recruiter, I was merely told that since I was no longer a virgin, I might as well become a sex worker,” she told Visayan Forum. “I was so furious, I escaped, not knowing where I’d end up.”

While most of those rescued were grateful for the help, Oebanda said some of the women and children had been so hardened by their ordeal that they get angry at social workers like her. “They see us as getting in their way, that we’re taking away their jobs and opportunities,” she said. “Some of them even vandalize our shelters. But eventually they appreciate it.” Adapted from: Khaleej Times. March 1, 2007

MICROSOFT TAKES A LEAD ROLE
(technology.inquirer.net)
Stop Trafficking and Exploitation of People through Unlimited Potential (step-UP) is a partnership between Microsoft Philippines and the Visayan Forum Foundation to provide information technology skills training to former victims of human trafficking, and other underprivileged youth and adults.
The two-year step-UP initiative is part of Microsoft's Unlimited Potential global program, which so far has already seen more than P100 million in investments in different projects in the Philippines. Step-UP is supposed to benefit more than 10, 000 survivors and potential victims of human trafficking in the country.
The launch was held on May 26 at the Filipinas Heritage Library, coinciding with the third anniversary of the signing of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.

Lunch time.

We headed for Manila Bay and the Harbor View restaurant off of Roxas Blvd and perched over the waters of the bay.

This was our last big meal of the board trip. Manila staffer Ray ordered for us faultless choices of Filipino delights!!

The ocean breeze was a soothing balm against the Manila humidity at high noon. The green mango shakes revived us, and the shade of the building's rooftop that kept out the noonday sun and its relentless 90-plus degree temperatures.

I could see why folks would enjoy coming here. The view of Manila makes one think of all the history that had taken place here -- battles with Spaniards, with Americans, with the Japanese.

For me, this was my hangout when I was a teen. Here my friends and I danced into the night to the disco beats of the Hi-Jacks and the Tiltdown men at either the El Presidente Hotel or the Nile Restaurant.

Yes, this spot brought me back in time, even though the landscape was cluttered with so many more high rises than when I lived there.

Roxas Blvd was also the first place my sisters and I were taken by relatives during our first visit to the Philippines in 1962. Strolling the boulevard as the sun set on Manila Bay and eating barbeque meat on sticks are memories that live on in me.

CHILDHOPE MOBILE CLINIC PROJECT

Our last official visit on this 17th board trip for the Consuelo Board ended with street kids and ice cream.

Childhope Asia-Philippines and its street education project reaches thousands of street kids in more than five major Metro Manila cities.

They estimate that between 75,000 to 100,000 street kids live in these cities, and their numbers grow at an undetermined rate.

The kids are mostly child vendors, scavengers, beggars or helpers. Too many of them are prostituted out or sexually exploited. Even though there are better opportunties for these children, they choose the streets mainly because of poverty and their dysfunctional families where there is violence and parental neglect, among other things.

The funding partners contributed $240,000 in 2006. Consuelo's part was 15% of that. Among the 8 funding partners are the Rotary Clubs of Makati, Philippines and Honolulu, and The Body Shop.

The Rotary Club of Honolulu donated a mobile clinic and board member Paddy G. got to inspect it for the first time.

It never fails. Who doesn't like ice cream!!!??? The Consuelo staff bought everything from a vendor's ice cream wagon and handed the treats out to a happy crowd of kids, parents and street educators. Hands were reaching out to grab one of the good things in life -- ice cream bars, popsicles, and waffle sandwiches.

We ended our visit with a group photos that I felt captured the hope and caring of a few for so many.

Even we with Consuelo were satisfied. Another ice cream vendor came along. Here Ray and I chose our favorite flavors as the day ended for us right near the place where the U.S. returned the Philippines to independence after WWII. See the ceremonial grandstand behind us where Gen. MacArthur formally announced the end of American rule in 1946.

That night, some of us went shopping at nearby Green Hills where bargaining is ok but prices still a little too pricey for the poor locals. Here my roomate Amy found some children's clothing for her family back home. I just looked, for now.

THE LAST WEEK, MANILA, MARCH 31 TO APRIL 7.

2007-05-23T02:43:00.000-07:00

A SALCEDO
OUTDOOR MARKET
MORNING

Woke up, got out of bed, and headed for one of the many, many markets in Manila and surrounding cities and towns.

I especially wanted to visit this one because I was told it was filled with fresh foods, healthy foods, organic foods, homemade things and best of all it was outdoors surrounded by trees and Makati condos.

The intimacy of the market was very attractive to me, not alot of hustle and bustle, just slow and easy.

Cooks and sellers and buyers mingled easily, and no one was really pushing anything except very politely and very gently. This reminded me of other markets I'd been to.

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT MARKETS: Whenever I travel, I love to seek out the local markets. I want to see what the locals are shopping for, selling and eating or buying. Markets have a life to them because of the people and in the things they sell, and the energy in the way they sell, and because of the many shoppers and their curiousity. Like garage sales, some markets are getting rid of "junk", and for those who get lucky there could be a real find out there.
Some of my favorite markets are in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Seoul, Beijing and on Maui. Yes, Maui has a market that is unbeatable for its neighborhood feel and product diversity -- lots of "Made on Maui" stuff; it's a Saturday thing and the local folks look forward to it. There's one up the street from my home at the Kapiolani Community College parking lot, and it's a good one! My favorite things there are the fresh flowers, locally grown fruits and vegetables, the local meat sausages and burgers, and the take home, fresh cooked gourmet meals. Lots of locally made products! Oh, yes, and there is the big Aloha Stadium market. Good for alot things if you're up to walking miles of booths; a favorite of visitors and tourists.

Back to Salcedo. Tourists and locals mingled together in this Makati market not far from where I was staying. I loved the homemade stuff. I always do. Picked up a jar of calamansi (wonderful citrus) marmalade, a jar of ginger tea flakes, sugarless cookies, some Bangus (a favorite fish here) pate, a bottle of calamansi syrup, mango jam, a box of mango cookies, and a walnut/banana loaf which I gave to my driver Pio to take home to his family for Easter.

I left after an hour with plenty of goodies to bring home to my family!and was happy and gratified to find another market in the world I can name among my favories.

Then it was one last lunch with the board at the Manila Peninsula hotel. I was dying for a hamburger after a week of Filipino food. But when I saw the menu and pancit luglug listed, I went for that!! One of my favorite Filipino dishes.

Pancit Luglug uses a round rice noodle smothered with a thick, golden shrimp sauce or other flavored sauce, and topped with shrimp, pork rind grounds, hard-boiled egges and minced green onions. Luglug is what Filipinos bring to potluck parties, a true communal comfort food.

After saying our goodbyes, I walked to a nearby beauty shop. I really needed a poof to my droopy droopy hair that was still unable to hold a wave in this humidity. Three attendants worked on me for nearly three hours!!! Washed my hair, massaged my scalp. Blowed dry my hair and set it in rollers, and a massage for my neck and shoulders. A pedicure, a massage for my feet. A manicure and the poofing of my hair, with a massage for my hands and feet. All for about $35. A reason for returning for another Manila visit one day!!!

THAT NIGHT. A FRIENDS REUNION.

The last time I was in Manila was 20 years ago, in 1987 at the end of a USA Today reporting tour. I had seen these friends at that time, friends I had gone to high school with at the American School in Makati in the mid-60s.

Buddy Velayo (center below), Louie Villanueva (left) and Snooky -- I had seen then.
As for Edee Villanueva (tall one in the center) well, it had been a while!

I think I had not seen Edee for almost 35 years. Back then he was working in Hollywood for his father's export business, at the same time pursuing a possible recording career. I was working down the street at an all-news radio station as a young writer.

I finally met his beautiful wife Cita. They moved back to Manila several years ago with their two daughters after living in Los Angeles and Santa Fe, New Mexico for many years, leaving their son in the US to pursue a music career.

Edee and his brother Louie were the lead players in the TECHNICOLORS rock band during my high school days.

They were also my classmates and good friends that my sisters, Snooky, and I hung with. Snooky and I shared a best friend, Wendy Collinson (Jones) who was part of the December's Children, Edee's group that sang Mamas and Papas songs. That's Wendy in the white shirt, upper left of this page.

These are pages from my high school scrap book. We all worked on a TV pilot for a youth talent show called ENTER THE YOUNG and on other musical projects.

We often partied at their Forbes Park home where they also had a recording studio. That's Louie on the left, and Edee on the far right.

Their sound? They were expert technicians musically and mimiced perfectly the Beach Boys and the Mamas and the Papas. They also played alot of Motown songs. That's Paul in the back and Spanky in the front. I visited with Spanky a few years ago; he and his wife live outside of Washington DC.

We often rehearsed at their studio for the TV pilot. It was also here that Gary Lewis (Jerry Lewis' son) and his new Filipina bride came to jam with the Technicolors on their honeymoon, of all things!

That's me sitting next to Gary. We had also played Scrabble that morning with his new wife Jinky and her sister Gemma who is at the right of Gary in this photo.

SOME THOUGHTS: That's the way it was growing up in Manila during my high school years. Bands, celebrity musicians passing through the PI (Diana Ross, the Kinks, Peter and Gordon, the Dave Clark Five, and the Beatles -- I saw them all!). I also became a band concert producer, a disc jockey, a singer, a concert fashion show moderator, and a teen magazine writer. An extraordinary time, pre-Marcos martial law, when rock n roll was truly king! It was great going back and reminiscing about those good ol' days.

One night I shared a meal with Louie and his wife Pilar and their family. She cooked my favorite dish -- slices of beef and onions stir-fried in calamansi juice and soy sauce.

Their younger kids (they had 9, lost their oldest son several years ago) were home and two of the girls joined us to watch some of my documentary trailers and excerpts.

SNOOKY, MY BEST FRIEND IN HIGH SCHOOL
I was very grateful that Snooky and her husband Gop did not go away for Holy Week on a planned trip to Singapore. I was able to visit with them several times, and it was great to catch up and also to get to know Gop whose work is in the garment business (I learned lots about that!!) as an agent (Target is one of his clients). He and Snooky married after my last trip to the PI and had built their beautiful Spanish home here in Alabang Village, an upscale gated community about 20 minutes from Manila (when there's no traffic).
It is full of beautiful art, much of it Spanish art and Spanish religious art. Her collection of Catholic statues is impressive.

In high school, we were in the same grade and formed a close friendship and hung with a group of friends that we had in common. Our birthdays are just two days apart, I was often at her home and she at mine. Her mother made this wonderful spaghetti, which Snook reproduced for us the night of our Holy Week reunion.

Snook had me over another night for dinner, and before we ate we watched STRANGE LAND: MY MOTHER'S WAR BRIDE STORY -- my lastest and ninth documentary.

We paused and froze the frame where Snooky appears in a still with my family and relatives. (See her in the back row?) Yes, she was part of our family back then. I rememember one morning when I woke up and there she was sitting on my bed waiting for me to wake up.

A very talented dancer since she was a child, Snooky took me to a dance club one night so I could meet her dance instructor Jojo whose been teaching her ballroom dancing. Snooky doesn't compete in the ballroom dancing world (very popular with the Manila elite), though I know she could; she does it for excercise twice a week!

Our last visit was lunch at the Manila Peninsula where we shared more stories about our lives.

Finally, I had the halo halo Haranos that some on the Consuelo team suggested I should try. Manila's best, I was told. And big, and a lot!! Ok, bring it on!

In Tagalog, halo-halo means "mix-mix" and that's exactly what it was -- egg-yolk custard (or flan), chickpeas, sweetened kidney beans, colored gelatin, red, green and white sugar palm, nata de coco (or coconut gel), purple-yam preserve, sago in syrup, jackfruit, makapuno (a rare variety of creamy coconut), purple-yam ice cream, toasted rice crisps, about an inch of evaporated milk and sugar.

It arrived in an oversized glass and was truly unforgettable!! The Peninsula's lobby's patrons—a Who's Who of Manila society—are said to order 7,300 halo-halo Haranas a year. That's 20 orders a day!

VISITS WITH FAMILY

Time was also spent with my mother's sister Cely-- mom's last surving sibling, and mom's sister-in-law Fely and her family.

Here Cely and cousins Sabel, Baby and Gely join me for lunch in Makati.

We had our pick of local foods at the food court of the Landmark shopping center near where I was staying.

I also visited auntie Fely, my late uncle Rody's wife, at her son Boyet's home where she lives. When I arrived, in the background on the TV was playing my latest documentary about my mom, STRANGE LAND: MY MOTHER'S WAR BRIDE STORY.

Fely and her large brood of grandkids filled the house and met their aunt Stephanie for the first time.

Boyet's wife and my godchild Stella surprised me with a wonderful lunch!

The food was fabulous and included my favorite Filipino dessert, Sans Rival (Without Rival) -- layers of buttercream in between layers of meringue wafers.

Well, time was short, but it was great seeing the cousins and their children.

One of my days that week was also spent time with Stella (far right), my godchild now in her 40s, and her family. We shared a Holy Week lunch together at a Chinese restaurant and did a little shopping at Green Hills shopping center, a bit too pricey for them however, even with the cash I gave Stella to spend on the kids.

Joining us for lunch was Malou, my cousin, and her husband Willie who drove us all to Green Hills in his little sedan. Willie, who is one of President Gloria Arroyo's official photographers, gladly chauferred us whenever he could.

A VISIT TO THE MALL OF ASIA

The SM Mall of Asia is the largest in the Philippines and is the third largest in the world, at least in floor size. There are more than 600 shops here, a cinema, an IMAX theatre, a humongous food court, an olympic size skating rink, and thousands of shoppers every hour. Restaurants galore, or the humongous food court -- take your pick. I am told it takes two days to see the entire mall.

It sits on Manila Bay, the perfect place to view one of the most famous sunsets in the world. An open-air amphitheatre let's the sea breeze that edges up against the mall's massive air conditioned corridors.

I was invited to view an exhibition there, WAR OF OUR FATHERS, that told the story of Philippine guerillas who fought the occupying Japanese for four years during WWII while waiting for the US troops and Gen. MacArthur to return.

Fellow filmmakers Lucky Guerillmo and Peter Parsons welcomed me to the exhibition, where their documentary footage was being shown as part of the show.

Peter has been documenting the WWII experiences in the Philippines. In SECRET WAR, he tells the story of his father, Chick Parsons, who was an American businessman recruited by Mac Arthur to head the guerilla movement preparing for the general's return.

Peter's latest doc, MANILA 1945, documents the horrific atrocities committed by the Japanese during their occupation and as they fled Manila from the encroaching American troops.

The exhibit included a page from The Liberator, a newspaper for the guerillas fighting the Japanese. It was the official publication of President Quezon's guerilla unit and used to encourage the fighters.

The illustrator, Ezmeraldo Izon, was known to me, because he was the father of my dear friend and filmmaking partner Noel "Sonny" Izon. Sonny and I have made two films together about Filipinos in America. One of them was about Filipino immigrants who were in the U.S. when Pearl Harbor was bombed and who wanted to go back to the Philippines to rescue their families. AN UNTOLD TRIUMPH told their WWII story and how Gen. Mac Arthur used them for special covert assignments in retaking the Philippines. Sonny's dad, on his death bed, had made him promise to finish this film, which took 8 years to complete.

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT THE MALL: I was

told several times that these malls I visited contain an illusion. The unemployed spending tons of money! This phenomena is one of the Philippines' most controversial issues. It involves Filipino workers working overseas in various places and in various capacities --construction workers and domestic helpers in the U.S., Canada, Italy, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan, and dancers in Japan and Hong Kong, and etc.-- sending home billions of U.S. dollars. These portions sent home, called "remittances", are parts of their paychecks tracked by the Philippine government through bank transactions and wire transfers.

How much cash the O.F.W.'s (Overseas Foreign Workers) bring home with them during visits, especially at Christmas time, is unknown. Whatever and however the cash is being sent home, it is the salvation not only of many of their poor folks at home but of the Philippine government. OFW monies represented $12.6 billion circulating in the country's 2006 economy. That's up 19 percent from 2005. More than 1 m illion new workers left for overseas employment in 2006, and that included one of my own family members.

I have another one who's been working overseas in Dubai for quite sometime now. Other relatives had gone overseas but have now return -- a few to Japan as bar dancers, others took positions in Saudi Arabia as domestic help. So the issue touches home for me.

I see their families back home in the Philippines slowly rising out of their povery or making a life outside of the PI in the U.S. where prosperity is possible. They call it "getting out". Sounds like language prisoners would use. Poverty drives the drive to leave; and the money sent home is used mainly for consumer goods, which then spurs the rise of giant shopping malls, like the Mall of Asia.

A New York Times Magazine article written a few weeks after I got back took thousands of words to express the impact of these OFW on their families, especially their children, and on the country.

Jason DeParle wrote about Filipino workers but touched on the world's overseas workers with these words: About 200 million migrants from different countries are scattered across the globe, supporting a population back home that is as big if not bigger. Were these half-billion or so people to constitute a state — migration nation — it would rank as the world’s third-largest.

While some migrants go abroad with Ph.D.’s, most travel as Emmet did, with modest skills but fearsome motivation. The risks migrants face are widely known, including the risk of death, but the amounts they secure for their families have just recently come into view. Migrants worldwide sent home an estimated $300 billion last year — nearly three times the world’s foreign-aid budgets combined. These sums — “remittances” — bring Morocco more money than tourism does. They bring Sri Lanka more money than tea does.

The numbers, which have doubled in the past five years, have riveted the attention of development experts who once paid them little mind. One study after another has examined how private money, in the form of remittances, might serve the public good. A growing number of economists see migrants, and the money they send home, as a part of the solution to global poverty. Read more, to go:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/magazine/22Workers.t.html?ei=5088&en=ee85518a5f1799b1&ex=1334894400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

A BIG THANK YOU!!

I must thank Consuelo Foundation, its board and staff, and especially its CEO and President for allowing me to stay an extra week to see family and friends and to renew my acquaintance with Manila! It was truly a God-given gift!

I hope this blog will express just how wonderful my time with them was and how profound a visit it was. Don't know what they will do with the 7 hours of footage I shot and don't know what kinds of work or projects will flow from this trip as their guest filmmaker. But I am hoping this beautiful trip will be the start of a wonderful friendship between us. Thanks Consuelo staff, thanks Ray, thanks Geri and Board members!