By Nathalie Tomada

The Freeman

Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is nicely adjusting to a less stressful and hurried life even as she embraces the housewife role she said she never had before.

In her first media interview since leaving the presidency last June, the congresswoman of Pampanga’s second district looked relaxed in a light blue dress, smiling and seemingly at peace with herself and the world despite the controversies that continue to hound her.

Arroyo talked about the more domestic role she has just embraced. She welcomed this writer into her Quezon City home and showed their family portrait that showed her as a young wife and mother at 22, with husband Jose Miguel and eldest son Mikey, taken at the garden swing that is still on the front lawn.

“Now, I’m getting a life that I did not have even then,” she begins. “I married and I lived in this house with my in-laws. My mother-in-law would cook and was very tolerant, up to my last toilet paper she provided, and then she had a terrific mayordoma (housekeeper) who had been the yaya (nanny) of my husband since he was born. She helped in my career because she took care of the house and everything. I didn’t have to be a housewife. I was a wife.”

“My mother-in-law died when I didn’t yet enter politics and my mayordoma died when I was president,” she continued. “So, when I left the presidency, I came back to this house without a mother-in-law and mayordoma to run it. So I entered now the life of a housewife which I never had before.”

Her staff says that she notices everything, from flies to dust in the windows. Running the household, Arroyo says, “is very therapeutic; whenever I’m idle that’s what I do.”

10 pounds slimmer

There’s another change that has gone largely unnoticed. She just lost over 10 pounds, but she has not gone vegetarian, contrary to speculations on her new look.

“This just came about because of exercise and diet because I don’t have socials at night and I don’t have many breakfast meetings now. It’s still the same basic two hours of high-intensity exercise, and then I added 15 minutes for three days. I also eat only one full meal a day. Unless we’re socializing, my husband and I only have soup for dinner.”

Arroyo, who turned 64 on April 5, adds, “I decided to have a new hairdo for my new life.”

She just bought an iPad to download books, finished reading Game Change, a politically-themed book on the 2008 US elections, opened a Facebook account, watches American Idol, and joins the carpool to send her grandchildren to school.

Arroyo’s chief-of-staff Elena Bautista-Horn said the congresswoman’s pace is still very much like her workhorse pace when she was president.

“But she’s been adjusting to her now less punishing schedule and lean staff of six, among other things,” said Horn.

When asked if she might return to her first job as teacher, whose former students included President Benigno Aquino III, she said: “Maybe one day. Of course, I have many things to share now, all the economic theories that I actually applied and worked.”

The Arroyo house is decorated with photographs, including one taken of her as daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal with then former US President John F. Kennedy at the White House – a gift from present US President Barack Obama.

The Arroyo residence is just a stone’s throw away from Ateneo de Manila University where she worked as a professor after graduating with an Economics degree from Assumption College.

“I chose teaching because it was a way of having a good balance between motherhood and career. The good thing about it was that for 12 hours of teaching a week and then some very flexible research time, there was plenty time to be with the children. Also, I would take the semester off after I gave birth. I read at that time that what an individual learns in his whole life he learns half of it before the age of 5. So I wanted to make sure I will be able to give them a lot of time before the age of five,” she said.

Spacing of children

Arroyo said that the birth of her children Mikey, Luli and Dato were well spaced, which had largely influenced her present responsible parenthood policy.

“I stress spacing rather than the number of children. It’s good for the health of the mother, of the baby, and of the relationship between mother and baby, mother and other children, mother and father, and the whole family.”

Explaining why she doesn’t link the issue of population with development, she said: “During the last global crisis, which were the economies that not only survived but also came out very strong? These were the big population countries with a good per capita income, one of which is the Philippines. So, of course, if you have a big population but the per capita income is very poor then it is still bad or you have high per capita income but your population is very small like Singapore, you also suffer. You really need those two ingredients. The Philippines had those two ingredients. In the last year before the economic crisis, we had 7 percent growth rate; we had already graduated to the middle class per capita income. That’s why I don’t tie up population policy with development.”

This should clearly hint at where she stands as the battle lines are being drawn on the Reproductive Health Bill in Congress. “At least it didn’t pass under my term. It’s going to be a tough fight. We shall see.”

“I’ll tell you something, my father, when he was telling me about public service, for the public servant, the priority should be God first, then country, and family last. I used to think ‘what do you mean by God first and then country?’ then analyzing it, I came to realize because when thinking something good for the country, there are different policies, and some are more faith-based than the others, like pro-life. But fortunately also, [my parenthood policy] is grounded on reason and economic logic.”

Keeping emotions private

Asked whether the challenges of the presidency were responsible for this faith and religiosity, she says, “No, no, I’ve always been religious. I learned it from the nuns in school. Not from my family because my mother was not particularly religious.”

From her mother Eva Macaraeg, nevertheless, she inherited the sternness and know-how in languages and learned that whatever is private – like emotions – should remain private.

It was also perhaps her mother who provided her first connection to Cebu, which famously delivered her 1 million votes during the 2004 presidential elections. “You know, my mother said she spent the best years of her life in Cebu. She was the carnival queen of Cebu at the age of 16.”

She also fondly recalled an acting stint in a Cebu soap opera when she was senator. “It was done in Carcar. I played a mother of a rape victim. They didn’t require me to cry but they required me to be sad. But the one who played my daughter was so good that I actually cried.”

While she was recruited to enter politics in the late 1970s for the opposition ticket, Arroyo says that it was only when she topped the senatorial elections in 1995 that her father, who passed away in 1997, began to think of the possibility that she might follow in his footsteps.

“I would say that among all the historical figures that I’ve come across with either personally or vicariously, my father has been the biggest influence on me. Everything about the family and private life was my mother, and everything about public service was my father. He didn’t meddle on how we were raised, and he expected my mother not to meddle also in his governance,” she said.

“He had said that the presidency is a position not to be enjoyed but you have to work hard for the good of the people and necessarily, you have to suffer. And he suffered because he worked 20 hours a day. He had a silent heart attack when he was president, which we didn’t know until much later on.”

“I got that focus from my father, although I didn’t work for 20 hours when I was president. I did about 12 because I had to make sure I would have one-hour exercise twice a week and seven hours of sleep.”

Asked how her father would think of her now if he were still alive, she says after some pause: “For my father, he thought we were the worthiest people. He was a very, very affirming father. Our choices were his choices. Before, when I was about to do something, he would advice. But after I’ve done something, his concern was if I did the right thing.”

Proud of accomplishments

Amid controversies that beset her presidency and which prompted the lowest approval ratings upon her exit, Arroyo still believes that she had accomplished what she set out to do.

“Considering that our political culture is so negative, what’s more important is that the progress that we worked for speaks for itself. From day one that’s what I tried to do – tried to have permanent change in the economy of the Philippines so that it can have our growth sustainable and move into the first world within 20 years,” said Arroyo.

“And I feel that I was able to do a lot in that direction. First of all, we had unprecedented 38 quarters of consecutive growth, never, never happened before. And then I left the economy with a 7.9 percent growth rate, better than what I started with. And at 7.9 percent, what does it mean? Nine million new jobs, more people with healthcare and education, especially for those who didn’t have access to it before, there’s the RORO (roll on-roll off ships of the nautical highway) that connected our nation like never before, and from almost nothing, we have become a BPO (business process outsourcing) powerhouse, all the while we were paying our financial obligations. And then if you just look at the skyline of Manila and of Cebu, how they have changed in the past 10 years. There are more buildings, malls, small businesses.”

Asked to react to criticisms that these gains have not trickled down to the poorest of the poor, she said: “First of all, the poverty rate has gone down in my administration compared to the previous years. But of course, if you’re talking about from 49 to 23 percent of whatever it is, there’s still that number that are poor.”

Unwilling to offer any criticism to her most vocal of critics, she explains, “What for? I’ve never returned the negative feelings. I’m only matapang (stern) to people accountable to me. I get mad because of what they did, not the person.”

Choosing battles

Horn, who is also Arroyo’s current spokesperson, adds, “Even now, we will speak when we need to speak. We choose our battles. We choose issues we comment on. Why glorify them?”

There were times when the urge to engage was strong, but Arroyo says, “Maybe because as what St. Paul said, ‘Let God be your lawyer’… I don’t get out of my way to reach out; on the other hand, I don’t do an aggressive act.”

Looking back, does she feel she has been under-appreciated and unfairly judged?

“Well, I would have wished that there was less negativism. That’s part of what I’ve been saying about how I see the Philippines. We’re not one country but we’re like two countries with the same name. There’s the one Philippines, that’s the economy, which after many years of cumulative effort, we’re taking off. Then there’s the other Philippines, which is the political system, after many years of degeneration also, it’s becoming a hindrance to progress.”

“I tried to be philosophical about it,” she summed up her experiences, including the crises, the sacrifices, and the tumult. “You know, it was a big honor to serve the Philippines, I am gratified because I was able to deliver what I wanted to do.”

Asked if she looks forward to the day when history will cast her in a more positive light, Arroyo said: “Of course I care, but most importantly, I let God take care of the rest.”

PHOTO: GMA and family members attending a Mass.

By Pepper Marcelo

It’s graduation time again. In a country where one’s worth is often measured by his educational attainment, finishing college is one of the highly anticipated milestones. Never mind that the graduate is at the bottom of the class or that he came from one of those diploma mills. What matters most to many Filipino parents is that are able to send their child though college; whether the graduate gets to practice what he studied or lands a job afterward is another matter.

But the celebratory mood is short-lived. Soon after, reality sets in: many of the graduates will have a hard time finding decent jobs, much more jobs that are suited to their studies. Thus we see marketing graduates answering phones and filing records, or mass communication majors taking on contractual jobs hawking credit cards in malls. The luckier ones end up as call center agents and bank tellers, jobs that require only three to six months training in developed countries.

Clearly there is a mismatch between the types of graduates our schools produce and the kinds of skills that the labor market needs. As a result, years of studies and the concomitant cost of college education are wasted. Labor statistics show that roughly half a million graduate are unable to get work in their chosen field each year. Despite numerous vacancies, local and overseas employers often complain about the lack of employable college graduates. Phil-job.net, the official job search site of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), shows that some 125,000 local and overseas job vacancies are still open and have yet to be filled by qualified applicants. (See related story.)

A recent study by the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) of DOLE shows that 1.052 million, or 39.1 percent of the unemployed, are college graduates and undergraduates. “The large proportion (50.6 percent) of the recorded 2.6 million unemployed Filipinos are young workers aged 15 to 24 and are educated with a college diploma or are undergraduates,” the study says.

Unemployable graduates

In the nursing profession, for example, there are 80,000 nursing board passers each year, but there are only a handful of job openings, according to the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) and the Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocates. Statistics on the total of unemployed nurses are estimated to number upwards of 150,000. Many of them have become call center agents due to the difficulty of finding nursing jobs at home and abroad.

Graduates of business administration, hotel and restaurant management, and information technology are in the same boat. Statistics show that only three out of every 100 new college graduates are hired yearly because of their failure to pass competitive qualifying exams. Thus many of the graduates – or at least those with a workable grasp of the English language – end up as call center agents or bank tellers.

“Even if they’re graduates, they might not have the qualifications, competency and experience that the job requires,” says Criselda Sy, Director of BLES. “A major concern is that we’re not educationally at par with the standards of the industry.”

Moratorium on popular courses

To address the oversupply of graduates in certain courses, the Commission on Higher Education (CED) has imposed a moratorium on the opening of new programs effective this year. The following undergraduate and graduate programs were declared suspended for an indefinite period: Nursing, Business Administration, Teacher Education, Hotel Restaurant and Management and Information Technology.

According to CHED, the top five major disciplines with the most number of graduates were Business Administration and Management related Programs (114,000), Education and Teacher Training (96,000), Medical and Allied Professionals (87,000), Engineering and Technology (63,000), and Information Technology (49,000).

The moratorium is the government’s response to the proliferation of specific programs, which if left unabated would further lead to the worsening of the quality of our graduates.  The mushrooming of certain courses, according to one study, has resulted in the weakening of the Business Administration and Teacher Education programs, as well as the decline in the passing rate in the Licensure Examination for nurses.

Improving education

CHED is focused on ensuring that Philippine educational institutions are developing a national qualifications framework to improve tertiary education. It is pushing for schools to attain proper accreditation. Although CHED prescribes schools to attain the minimum requirements, it nonetheless encourages and evaluates institutions to go above the minimum targets so as to make their standards comparable to foreign standards.

CHED is working in collaboration with a technical panel of experts from the academe, as well as business and industry leaders, via their Policy Standards and Guidelines (PSGS). The multisectoral panel shall formulate academic development plans and make recommendations for specific disciplines.

“That’s our mechanism,” says Vitriolo. “Before you offer a program you have to comply with established policies and standards, which are formulated by the panel. Aside from that, there is a public hearing process, where we invite everyone, including students and parents, to attend the forum. After that, we finalize these standards for schools to follow.”

CHED has designated Agriculture, Mining Science, Aeronautics, Geology and Software Engineering as undersubscribed collegiate programs for which there is a big demand for qualified graduates.

Jobs of the future

In 2010, DOLE held a forum with business executives and “captains of industry” to discuss future business trends and their corresponding requirements for the next ten years (2010-11). Some of the critical concerns raised in the forum included the need to improve the analytical and communication proficiencies of students and their corresponding information technology skills, as well as honing the managerial skills of college graduates.

Through consultation and research, the government and the private sector identified 12 Key Employment Generators (KEG): Agribusiness, Cyberservice, Health and Wellness, Hotel Restaurant and Tourism, Mining, Construction, Banking and Finance, Manufacturing, Ownership Dwellings and Real Estate, Transport and Logistics, Wholesale and Retail Trade, and Overseas Employment.

In Agribusiness, for example, some of the specific in-demand occupational titles include Animal Husbandry, Agricultural Economist, Aqua-culturist, Coconut Farmer, Entomologist, Horticulturist, Plant Mechanic, Veterinarian and Pathologist.

Career guidance needed

“The problem is even if we do that, it largely remains a choice of the students,” says Vitriolo. “For example, there are very few takers in agricultural education, because they don’t find it as something as attractive [as nursing]. There are few people now taking that, but we need it, because we’re an agricultural country.”

DOLE recommends that there needs to be an intensified focus on information dissemination regarding hard-to-fill and in-demand occupations, including college degree  courses with an oversupply of skills, so that students are able to make informed decisions about their career choices.

“The business community should alert the educational sector about its labor requirements, and figure out how to attract enrollees in those areas,” says Sy. “That’s where career guidance and orientation come in. A student should be aware of what is going on in the labor market and make an informed career decision, so that after graduation, they will know where they should go.”

About 34,000 people dead instantly and 24,000 dead or dying in the rubble. About 110,000 injured and needing immediate treatment. Five hundred fires raging simultaneously. Metro Manila faces these and several other horrific scenes should it be hit by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, says a report by a multinational intelligence firm. READ FULL STORY

By Karl Malakunas

Agence France-Presse

PUERTO PRINCESA – For tourists the Philippine island of Palawan seems like paradise, but for environment activists it feels more akin to a battlefield.

Murders and threats on what is promoted as the Southeast Asian nation’s last ecological frontier are emblematic of a struggle across the country, where dozens of environment campaigners have been killed over the past decade.

Father-of-five “Doc” Gerry Ortega became the latest casualty in late January when a hitman shot him in the head while browsing in a second-hand clothes shop along one of the main roads of Palawan’s capital city, Puerto Princesa.

“He received a lot of death threats,” Ortega’s wife, Patty, 48, told AFP in an interview at a cafe just a few hundred meters from where he was killed.

The murdered Ortega, 47, a veterinarian, made many enemies via a daily radio morning show he hosted in which he lambasted politicians whom he accused of being corrupt and allowing the island’s natural resources to be pillaged.

“He was a very passionate man, passionate about the environment,” his widow said.

On the far western edge of the Philippines’ archipelago, Palawan has some of the country’s most beautiful beaches, stunning coral reefs and biodiverse forests — it is home to two UNESCO World Heritage-listed sites.

But environment campaigners say Palawan’s natural wonders could be destroyed within a generation amid the frenzy to exploit them, citing as an example the destruction of countless coral reefs from cyanide and dynamite fishing.

Its reefs supply more than half the nation’s seafood, plus millions of dollars’ worth of fish to other Asian markets.

Palawan also has vast amounts of nickel, cobalt and other valuable minerals, prompting hundreds of applications to mine about half of the island.

The applications have spurred a high-profile campaign to ban all forms of mining.

Meanwhile, 11 percent of the Philippines’ remaining virgin forests and 38 percent of its mangroves are on Palawan, according to government data.

“From the post cards it’s a great tourist area,” Robert Chan, a crusading environmental lawyer and executive director of Palawan NGO Network Inc, told AFP from his rundown headquarters in Puerto Princesa.

“But if you talk about the resources that really mean something for biodiversity or medicines eventually for our future generations, if you talk about its old growth forests, if you talk about mangrove forests, if you talk about its coral reefs, were losing it.”

While there are many laws to protect Palawan’s natural resources, they are no match for the lawlessness and corruption that permeates all of Philippine society, according to environment campaigners and some politicians.

“The biggest obstacle really is the temptation of money from big industries and (those involved in) illegal activities,” Edward Hagedorn, the long-time mayor of Puerto Princesa, told AFP.

Hagedorn, regarded by Palawan’s environment activists as one of their most important political allies, has banned mining and logging in Puerto Princesa which, although a city, has huge tracts of forests and white sand beaches.

“Outside the city destruction is happening very fast,” he said.

Hagedorn said powerful figures had often tried to bribe him to permit environmentally destructive practices, such as allowing truckloads of seafood that were illegally fished to be flown from his city’s airport.

“You’ll be surprised. Law enforcers, judges, come into my office (offering money and) asking for me to give them a chance,” he said.

Environment campaigners say that, amid this chaos, they have to perform functions that government bodies and law enforcers should be doing, which often pushes them into very dangerous situations.

Attorney Chan, 43, said four environment activists from local communities he had worked with over the past decade had been murdered.

Chan and his colleagues train communities to resist destructive environment practices by filing law suits, but also to confiscate equipment such as chainsaws used for illegal logging and even boats used for illegal fishing.

Under Philippine law, citizens are allowed to seize equipment used in illegal activities and arrest those involved.

Over the past 10 years, Chan said he, his colleagues and the communities they worked with had seized more than 360 chainsaws, two large ships, about 20 small outrigger boats and rifles.

But the successes are tempered by a sense of danger.

Chan, who is married and has a young daughter, recounted losing an activist in 2006 who had been working to oppose illegal logging and the cutting down of mangroves in his community.

“We found him in a shallow grave in a beach. He had been specifically buried there for us to find him,” said Chan.

“His testicles were taken off, put into his mouth, his tongue was cut out, his eyes were gouged out, his fingernails were taken out, he had around 16 stab wounds.”

Abdelwin Sangkula, another Puerto Princesa-based campaigner, said he had also received many death threats over the past few years.

“I’m worried about my safety and the safety of my family. But I will continue with my fight, said Sangkula, 39, who has three children and was a regular guest on the murdered Ortega’s radio show.

“I don’t know whether it’s just in my blood, but I see injustice and unfairness with what’s happening in this province.”

Abraham Mitra, the governor of Palawan who is also chairman of the province’s sustainable development council, did not respond to requests by AFP for comment on the allegations made by the environment campaigners.

The development council has run full-page advertisements in national papers recently rejecting claims that the local environment is being destroyed, and insisting that mining applications are being approved in a responsible manner.

In the case of Ortega, the accused gunman and four other people alleged to have been involved in the killing have been arrested.

His widow has filed documents with the justice department accusing a powerful local politician of masterminding the murder.

The politician, who has not been arrested, has gone on national television to deny any link to Ortega’s killing. Police investigations are ongoing.

SEE RELATED STORY

By Malou Mangahas

Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

Late evening last Feb. 4, Friday, a long-time source suddenly called. Would I be free for brunch the next day, he asked. He wanted to consult me on something important.

We met the next day and he bared his purpose: Angelo ‘Angie’ T. Reyes, the former Armed Forces chief of staff and Defense secretary, wanted to see me so he could tell his story to “an independent journalist” – would I want to interview him? The source happened to be a senior trusted associate of Angie for the last decade or so.

Now which reporter would pass up the chance to do a great interview? I was tempted to say yes at once. But I knew Angie Reyes to be a difficult source – smart, articulate, often given to intellectual musings, somewhat arrogant in manner and tone, and yes, a bit full of himself. I don’t know how he sized me up; perhaps it was just sheer luck that he had thought of PCIJ at a time he was vulnerable and under fire in the Senate for alleged corruption.

In 2001, for over two hours, I had interviewed Angie for a PCIJ story on the rushed, overpriced, and irregular purchase of four, 30-year-old C-130-K military transport and cargo planes and two sensor equipment for $41 million or P2.1 billion. The supplier was the world’s largest defense contractor, the U.S. firm Lockheed Martin.

The story had reached Angie’s doorstep because it was he, as Armed Forces chief of staff, who recommended the purchase, and approved the same weeks later, as Defense secretary, without public bidding. The purchase was enrolled for funding under the multi-billion-peso Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program when it was not supposed to be there at all. The program did not include the purchase of C-130s but only aircraft with night-vision sensors.

To push it, the AFP crafted the contract with Lockheed Martin to cover the acquisition of C-130s retrofitted with night-vision sensors. As it turned out, Angie had merely signed on to a deal endorsed by two presidents, one of whom was said to be close to the lobbying contractor. The Department of Budget and Management did not approve the contract until months later. The Armed Forces had a bad habit then of awarding supply contracts that the service commands or headquarters would later suspend or rescind, then bid and award again, for reasons like product specs mismatched with unit requirements and the change of commanders.

I got to ask Angie hard questions only after a long, small-talk session. He regaled me with his views on books, the arts, and his life as a graduate student at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He didn’t get it that when some sources start pulling in vanity snippets, some reporters become more wary.

And so on Saturday, Feb. 5, when the source said Angie wanted to tell his story, I agreed — but only after laying down what I thought should be the best premises for a good interview: no-holds barred, he doesn’t waste time denying things, he deals with the critical questions, and he agrees that I bring a PCIJ colleague as associate. I told the source about my honest impressions of Angie, arrogance and all. I asked the source if he really thought Angie had it in him a hint of humility, and the courage to tell all about what I am certain he knew first-hand were details of corruption – the cases, the actors, the modus and the system – in the military and the government.

I told the source that it seems clear that apart from senior military officers, corruption festers with the knowledge or acquiescence of a string of chiefs of staff, defense secretaries, and presidents, as well as some of the members of Congress and contractors. If Angie would talk to secure self-redemption, I said, the interview could not guarantee that. I requested the source to tell Angie that the best reason for him to talk would be simply to tell the truth, and that maybe in doing so, over time, he could have self-redemption.

The source said he would relay all this to Angie and get back to me. We exchanged text messages – some of which he said he forwarded to Angie – while Angie engaged in muni-muni, reflected on his options, and consulted with his sons about the interview.

On Sunday, Feb. 6, past 8 p.m., the source called to say Angie was ready to talk and our meeting was a go. But minutes later, the source said Angie had changed his mind and it was a no-go. More minutes later, the source called again to say that Angie said it was a go once more. I was already halfway prepared to go out when the source relayed the message that Angie had again changed his mind. I told the source we should respect that Angie and Angie alone should make the call if and when he wants to talk.

On Tuesday, Feb. 8, the day Angie Reyes took his life, I learned from the source that Angie had actually prepared for our interview. For a few hours last Sunday morning, Angie had sat down with the source to organize his words and thoughts to prepare for his two considered options: the interview with the PCIJ, or a final statement he would issue, in his name, to the media. He asked his associate to document his thoughts and feelings.

“In retrospect, he must have meant it as a final testament, but he kept that card very close to his chest,” the source said. “The notes are incomplete, because our conversation was unfinished. I apologized that I had to leave for a lunch appointment.”

“He became anxious and suddenly revived the PCIJ interview option,” the source recalled. He quoted Angie as telling him, “‘Please lang. Importanteng-importante ito. Time is of the essence.”

“After I said goodbye, he thanked me and shook my hand much more tightly than usual,” the source said. “By then, he was vacillating anew on whether or not to grant the interview. Many considerations (must have) flitted through his mind: he clearly didn’t want to rat on anyone, certainly not his comrades in arms; he also didn’t want to be an instrument for inflicting irreparable damage on the AFP…and so on.”

Said the source: “He would have wanted to contribute to cleaning the system – but only in a just and rational manner. At the hearings, he strongly felt – quite justifiably, I think – that he was being set up by some people to be ‘the face of military corruption.’ While he felt that this was very, very unfair, he was powerless to defend himself in that forum.”

The start of their conversation was recorded on tape. A minute into it, Angie asked the source to just jot down notes of their discussion that took place at the Reyeses’ home in Taguig. The source gave the PCIJ his notes from his discussion, with Angie captured verbatim, saying these were the main points that Angie would have wanted to highlight in the interview. In it, Angie showed he was not one to fail the expectations of honor.

With appropriate courtesy and clearance from his widow and sons, the PCIJ has decided to let Angie tell his story, verbatim. The discussion notes are rough and still unpolished in some parts, and somewhat incomplete. But they are Angie Reyes’s words and thoughts, as of Sunday, Feb. 6, 2011, two days before he put a gun to his heart and shot himself.

Living life without honor is a tragedy bigger than death itself  – Angie Reyes

“Honor, truth, justice. Honor above all else. Pride goes with it, self-respect, sense of legacy. This is very, very important to me. Sometimes, I am accused of being arrogant. I like to have plenty – a healthy sense – of self-esteem. I react to affronts on this.

There are two options available: to stonewall/fight the legal battle, or to come clean and make my own contribution to cleanse the system.

Stonewalling, I am told, would result in a long, protracted legal battle. However, past cases are not being resolved either way, kept in state of limbo. People’s memories are short and all this will eventually fade into public disinterest, and eventually oblivion. So, not to worry.

Coming clean, on the other hand, cannot be done without giving up something. I have decided to come clean, bare my heart and speak the truth. The truth can cut two ways: 1. If you are guiltless, you can embrace the truth and hope that it will protect you; 2. If you are not guiltless, speak the truth and it shall set you free.

I speak the truth not to whistle-blow or to seek neither immunity nor protection nor to escape from any form of liability. As a matter of fact, I speak the truth to accept responsibility for whatever liability I may have.

Honor is above all else. More valuable than freedom or even life itself. Therefore, honor must be guarded/defended with your life.

Living life without honor is a tragedy bigger than death itself.

Stonewalling would mean I would have to go on every day of my life or at least a large part of it under a cloud of public suspicion, at least until the case is resolved. Every day as you continue to live with the lie, you lose a little of your self-respect. And every day, as people look at you, you can read from their minds that they find you dishonorable, and you die a little. So if you stonewall – and you have the connections, resources and power to sustain it, and perhaps the thick face to endure it – that would be the preferred option. I have none of these, and so I choose the path of honor.

My honor has been attacked and damaged. I still have a lot of pride and self-respect, and I’d like to come clean to preserve whatever honor is left.

We see plenty of people walking around who have been clearly disgraced in the eyes of the people, and I do not want to join their ranks.

I think if you want to cleanse the system and for there to be justice, it should be applied equally and well. Our experience has shown that those with position and power, support and connection invariably go scot-free. I don’t have any of these.

It is unfortunate that we have a huge canvas here of which, I admit, I have been a part; unfortunately, people are now inclined to make me the face of that problem for their own various reasons.

When I participated in EDSA II, even then I anticipated that something like this would happen when I made enemies both on a personal and official level. In my long years of service, I knew that I would have to come to terms with this enmity some day.

I might not be guiltless/faultless, but I am not as evil as some would like to portray.

To my friends and those who have known me and believed in me, I honestly believe I did not let you down.

I want to assure the (PMA) cadet corps, current and future, that there are plenty of military professionals who have served and will continue to serve the country well. Do not be disheartened by this turn of events. Yours is a noble profession (of arms), and you should feel no shame. I have tried to live with integrity, loyalty, and courage.

In my 48 years of public service, I have tried to live up to the highest levels of professionalism and integrity. Whether it’s my assignment with the AFP-RSBS or with the Anti-Smuggling Task Force, I never received any offers of bribes; in fact, I returned them. In all my assignments, 39 years in the military and 9 years in four different Cabinet positions, I have never had any favorite supplier. Neither have I ever extorted money nor set any financial precondition for the approval of any contract. I can honestly say that I served honestly and well.

We are now in the situation where my honor and the family name are at stake. My family, my children, my grandchildren could say with a lot of truthfulness and pride that in the family, we value honor and integrity. Strength to live it and the courage to face up to the truth. This is the legacy I would like to leave with them.

Honor, truth, but there must be justice. And justice can be served if laws are applied evenly and well – not favoring the rich and powerful. I hope my case/situation will not be used as something that would bring closure to the issue of military corruption. The fight to reform the system and the entire country must continue; the sad part is that they are selectively targeting individuals and institutions.

I did not invent corruption. I walked into it. Perhaps my first fault was in having accepted aspects of it as a fact of life.

While I am familiar with finance, I must admit I had scant knowledge of military comptrollership. Personally, zero experience. Never been assigned as disbursement officer, etc., no stint. It’s a military field of specialization that I do not have.

No system is perfect. The AFP system needs a lot of systemic solutions…And the same might be true of some other institutions.

Tinyente pa ako,  ganyan na ang sistema (i.e., “conversion” system, etc.)… I can perhaps be faulted for presuming regularity in a grossly imperfect system. As CS (chief of staff), a big landscape, presume regularity, convenient to ignore it, accept it as part of the system. It’s easy to say, institute reforms after the problems have erupted.

I joined EDSA II at great risk. Jumped into a void. Coming from a place that was high and comfortable.  Without any regard for compensation or recognition or reward. I thought what I did – being loyal to the Flag and putting the national interest above all else – a right, but I was faulted for not being loyal to the commander-in-chief, that I should have stuck with him to the end, however that end might be. I stuck it out with the GMA administration for 9 years, not under the banner of loyalty; I could have deserted GMA, but I did not want to be branded as someone who abandoned his superiors…”

When we participated in many military campaigns, I would like to think that I showed courage…” – PCIJ, February 2011

One hundred twelve years after the Philippines declared itself an independent state, questions on the width and breadth of Philippine territory are still a subject of intense debate. The latest book of distinguished diplomat Rodolfo C. Severino shows that despite several revisions and laws related to territory, the most basic question on the area of Philippine jurisdiction remains ambiguous. READ FULL STORY

“No to Mining in Palawan”, a signature campaign to raise 10 million signatures against mining activities in Palawan, was launched on Feb. 3 by the Save Palawan Movement. It is spearheaded by ABS-CBN Foundation, civic and church leaders following the killing of civic leader, environmentalist and broadcaster Dr. Gerardo “Doc Gerry” Ortega in Puerto Princesa last Jan. 24. READ FULL STORY

By Pepper Marcelo

Once a vital transport route and a vital ecosystem linking Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay, the 25-kilometer Pasig River has been continually neglected and polluted for decades. As a result, it has been deemed “biologically dead” by some experts. Garbage coming from informal settlers residing along its banks, as well as the wastes dumped by factories operating near the river have all contributed to its continual decline.

Rehabilitation efforts , however, started only in 1989 with the establishment of the Pasig River Rehabilitation Program. But it wasn’t until then-President Joseph Estrada signed Executive Order No. 54, launching the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC) 10 years later, have there been concerted efforts to rehabilitate the river to its pristine glory.

In conjunction with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), PRRC’s work has seen noticeable improvements through the years. A widespread crackdown on illegal dumping of garbage along the river as well as tributaries, esteros, and creeks leading to it, has been implemented without letup. The water is also being treated with catchments, filtration systems and various helpful micro-organisms and fungi to bring life to fish, plants and other organisms.

The “centerpiece component” of the PRRC is the Dredging Project, which consists of removing contaminated materials from the whole stretch of the river. The project is being undertaken with the expert assistance of Baggerwerken Decloedt & Zoon (BDZ), a Belgian firm with experience in land reclamation and environmental dredging.

Two months ahead of its December 2010 deadline, the firm announced that it had completed the dredging of at least 2.5 million cubic meters of silt from the river, deepening the waterway to allow bigger boats and barges to navigate through.

“The 17-kilometer stretch of the Pasig River now has a draft of -6 meters at low water level, allowing improved navigation and flood control. The removal of the contaminated silt improved the water quality,” the BDZ said in a statement.

“To allow for its overall rehabilitation, further work will be required on the revetment works along the Pasig River, the sewage systems leading into the Pasig River, and the rules and regulations on dumping of waste and emissions,” it added.

In February 2010, a massive clean-up and rehabilitation campaign was launched under the banner “Kapit Bisig sa Ilog Pasig” (KBSIP). The project is led by the ABS-CBN Foundation Inc. (AFI) in partnership with the PRRC, with the goal of “zero toxic input into the Pasig River,” specifically the tributaries, esteros, and creeks.

ABS-CBN Foundation Managing Director and PRRC Chairperson Gina Lopez called the initiative a “genuine display of bayanihan,” with both the public and private sectors joining forces to bring life back to a river “intimately connected to our history, culture and origin as a people.”

KBSIP aims to raise Php700 million for technology and operational expenses to clean up the river within a seven-year period. It has implemented various strategies, including Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs), information, education, and communication (IEC) campaigns, relocation, as well as area redevelopment.

One of its recent major activities to raise awareness and funding was a “fun run”, dubbed the “10.10.10 A Run for the Pasig River.” It attracted a record 160,000 runners, with 116,086 finishing the race.

“We broke the world record. It was peaceful. It was joyful. It was a sea of humanity advocating for change,” Lopez tells Planet Philippines in an interview. “I could feel how the run was going to result in a significant shift in consciousness.”

The fun run generated some Php12 million in contributions, to be used to start cleaning operations in the polluted sections of the river near Malacañang Palace. “The plan is to finish [cleaning] Estero de Paco and to start and even hopefully finish the network of esteros behind Malacañang. The massive show of support will help greatly in facilitating these objectives,” Lopez adds.

Other forthcoming activities by the KBSIP include a nationwide songwriting competition, as well as the first-ever “Agos Awards,” honoring individuals, schools, organizations, government offices, and private corporations for their donations.

KBSIP has also instituted a program to relocate informal settlers to different sites. Almost 8,000 informal settlers reside along the banks of Pasig River, accounting for 60 percent of the garbage dumped on the river.

Since June 2009, a total of 221 families living along Estero de Paco have been moved to a 107-hectare site in Calauan, Laguna, and an additional 181 families to the PRRC site in Montalban, Rizal. These resettlement areas include “a full range of community amenities,” such as schools, day care facilities and livelihood opportunities for its residents.

The project also plans to relocate an additional 4,040 informal settlers from Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Tondo, Manila, Makati-Guadalupe, Pasig, and Taguig.

After the relocation of informal settlers comes the development of the river banks into linear parks, river walks and promenades that also serve as “buffer zone” and protection between the river and adjacent communities. A total of 24.6 kilometers of linear parks have been completed in the cities of Manila, Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig and Taguig.

The PRRC has also set up Environmental Preservation Areas (EPAs) in the form of linear parks, walkways and greenbelts on both sides of the Pasig River. Thus far, a total of 24.64 linear meters of parks have been completed extending from the Manila to Taguig City.

“My game plan is to show significant improvements in three indicators: the economy, peace and order and health,” says Lopez. “Once this done my projection is that there will be a snowball effect. We will have established a template.”

The BDZ urges Metro Manila residents and those living in the Marikina watershed to take good care of the Pasig River to reduce siltation and revive the waterway. “As long as it is considered an open sewer rather than as part of the natural environment of Metro Manila, the ongoing ‘abuse’ of the Pasig River will continue,” explains Lopez. “All will come to nothing if people do not put the Pasig River back into their hearts.”

She continues: “If you look at all the great metropolitan cities in the world, you will see that they are built beside rivers, and if we want Manila to be great again, then we should start by restoring Pasig River to its old glory.” (SEE RELATED STORY)

On November 23, 2009, 58 people were murdered by a local warlord from Maguindanao in the worst case of election violence in Philippine history. A year later, hope still flickers for the families of the victims, but the path to justice has been unbearably slow. VIEW DOCUMENTARY

A report by the Business Process Association of Philippines (BPAP) and Everest Research Institute, an autonomous research and analysis firm, says that the Philippines is set to overtake India as the call center capital of the world.

The report noted that major companies like HSBC, Cisco, BT Plc and T-Mobile are moving their work from India due to the alarming attrition rate there. Several other large firms are also contemplating setting up another core support center in the Philippines.

Another report, by IBM’s Latest Global Locations Trend Annual Report released recently in New York, said the Philippines is now the world’s leader in business support functions such as shares services and business process outsourcing after effectively overtaking India in these categories last year.

The 20-page report, launched in October but was only made available online in November, said it was the first time that India was not in the leading position for these activities. India now ranks No. 2.

“The Philippines has taken over the lead in the global ranking from India, after having challenged the top position for several years,” the report said.

It said the Philippines offered a similarly attractive business environment for international business support functions as India, but has not had the same labor cost increases as have occurred in various Indian “hot spots” in recent years.

The Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), meanwhile, says the Philippines is already ahead of India in terms of number of call center employees this year.

In a television interview on ANC’s Headstart last Dec. 2, CCAP president Benedict Hernandez said, “When you think of the contact center environment, we have assumed the number one position. Last year (2009), we were about 300,000. This year, its 350,000 in terms of employed Filipino working in call centers in the Philippines compared to only 330,000 in India. Right now, the best place to put a call center from a quality position is the Philippines.” he said.

Hernandez said the country assumed its lofty status because of the quality of English-speaking employees in the Philippines. “We won this war not because we’re lower cost than India. To some extent, we are a little bit higher priced to operate a call center compared to India. We won this battle by virtue of Filipino quality.  We grew faster than India because it’s the Filipino talent, which is world class caliber,” he said.

According to the report released recently, the major outsourcing services buyers are convinced that the Philippines has a number of advantages over India which would help the country to become the most preferred global destination for voice-based sales and customer services.

For instance, they feel that the Philippines enjoys more cultural affinity with the US and possesses a large talent pool. In addition, the Philippines also offers better tax motivations.

BPAP and Everest said the voice-based jobs contribute as much as 45 per cent of India’s entire BPO services exports, estimated at $5.58 billion in 2010. Compared to this, the total export revenues from just voice-based work for the Philippine BPO firms would be about $5.70 billion in 2010.

According to the partner of Everest Research India, Nikhil Rajpal, the Philippines will overtake India in pure call center business in 2010 and be the new capital of the global voice-based BPO industry.

The report also states that major outsourcing services buyers like BT Plc and Cisco are providing more and more voice-based customer support and sales work to inexpensive destinations like the Philippines. For example, the customer support executives in overseas such as the Philippines are paid just one-fourth of what their counterparts in the US with equivalent talent and experience actually get.

Industry experts believe that at the pace at which the Philippines BPO industry is progressing, it is very much possible that in another five years’ time, the firms in that country would leave behind India, whose BPO industry is worth $12.4 billion. The offshoring and outsourcing (O&O) industry has witnessed tremendous growth during the last two years and is now currently worth $9.5 billion.

Last November, IBM opened three new service delivery facilities inside the UP Ayala Techno Hub in Quezon City that will deliver outsourced process services, including human resources, finance and administration, customer relationship management, application management services and shared services (IBM internal) to existing and future clients of IBM’s BPO unit.

This expansion further strengthens IBM’s existing service delivery capability in the Philippines which serves over a million client employees across 84 countries. A mix of BPO services will be delivered to global companies from sectors such as healthcare/ pharmaceutical, consumer goods, technology, entertainment, telecommunication and distribution through these new facilities.

IBM growth markets general manager Bruno Di LeoHe said the Philippines is attractive to international business due to its well-educated workforce, strong work ethic and good language abilities.

“Filipinos are competitive and flexible and productive. That is why we are confident in investing in the future of the Philippines,” he said.

Di Leo said IBM is committed to growth and to the Philippines. IBM operates in eight world-class locations in the business centers of Metro Manila and Metro Cebu and delivers IT and business solutions to leading public and private sector clients throughout the country.

Di Leo also revealed that in the next five years, IBM intends to more than double its employees in the Philippines because the country is a world leader in providing business support functions.

He added that next year, IBM intends to double its business growth in these global delivery centers by building centers of competence with deep industry expertise in business analytics, applications management and helpdesk operations. “We will hire more industry IT architects as well as graduates from top universities,” he noted.

IBM Philippines country general manager James Velasquez said this expansion demonstrates their continued commitment to the country.

“The Philippines is one of the strategic locations in IBM’s Global Delivery network that integrates capabilities, assets and skills without borders. With abundant resources and globally benchmarked processes and methodologies, IBM will provide solutions to global and domestic clients to help them reach higher operational efficiency in a cost-effective way,” he said.

The Economic Times, a publication in the Times of India group, recently reported on all the Indian call centre and BPO companies that are either moving or setting up subsidiary operations in the Philippines. Indian companies now employ over 20,000 in Metro Manila alone. Another Indian call centre company, Convergys, plans to hire 3,000 people this year and Sitel is looking for 4,000 employees.

These companies join well-known multinational companies like MSN-Microsoft, Intuit, Expedia, HSBC, AT&T and IBM, which have already established their service and sales call centers in Manila, Davao, Angeles and Cebu.

The Philippine government has been actively encouraging the development of BPO industries by substantial investments in communications infrastructure. The country’s telecommunications network is superior to that of India, and Filipino call center agents can deal with 20 to 30 per cent more calls a day than can those in India.

BPO companies in the country enjoy income tax holidays from four to eight years, and a five percent tax rate on gross income after that time period. If situated in IT Parks and eco-zones, these companies also enjoy tax and duty exemption on imported capital equipment.

Industry observers note that one advantage of the Philippines stems from India’s much greater general economic success. Last year for example, the Indian economy grew by nearly eight per cent as it has for several years while the Philippine economy grew by only one per cent. As a result, there are many more opportunities for young, educated people in India and there is a high turnover of staff in Indian call centers and BPO offices, as much as 60 per cent a year. With few options, Filipinos tend to stay put.

Others point to the Philippines’ close affinity to the United States that serves as added attraction for America-based multinationals.

Chris Repholz, senior vice-president with the U.S. outsourcing company Zenta, aptly put in a recent speech: “Culturally, India is less westernized than the Philippines. Filipinos speak idiomatic American English better than Indians and their accent is more neutral.”