Vote your conscience

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:30 AM July 21, 2019

Tomorrow, at the opening of the 18th Congress and before President Duterte delivers his State of
the Nation Address (Sona), Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano will become the new Speaker of the
House of Representatives. He will serve a term of 15 months before ceding the post to Marinduque
Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, who will take his turn as Speaker for the remaining 21 months of the last
three years of the current administration. The term-sharing agreement was hammered out not by the
incoming congressmen themselves, but by President Duterte in Malacañang, who, after professing
reluctance to involve himself in the fight, eventually stepped in, broke the impasse between the two
aspirants by decreeing the term-sharing setup, and then announced it to the nation as a done deal.
The President himself having thus spoken, and with a supermajority in the Lower House at his
command, Speaker Cayetano it would be, then, by day’s end tomorrow—signed, sealed and
anointed.
Or so that’s how the script is supposed to go. But might there be surprises and last-minute
maneuvers in store? After all, if last year’s Sona was any indication, what had previously been
mostly a pro forma, by-the-book affair could now become a wild free-for-all. Pantaleon Alvarez,
smug in his position as Speaker and all set to preside over the big day, found himself ousted in a
coup by a group of congressmen who then installed Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as the new Speaker.
The nation will not soon forget that startling spectacle before the TV cameras and the assembled
sea of officialdom and the diplomatic community—Mr. Duterte stewing in an anteroom, chafing to
deliver his speech that would end up delayed by an hour while Arroyo commandeered the
Speaker’s chair, was sworn in even as the House mace—the emblem of the chamber’s authority—
was nowhere in sight, spirited away by Alvarez loyalists, and pandemonium reigned on the floor.

Despite the President’s early intervention this time that supposedly assures a wrinkle-free ascension
to the speakership by Cayetano, there are tantalizing indications that undercurrents and shadowy
movements are still happening late in the day. Presidential daughter Sara Duterte, who had
engineered Arroyo’s takeover last year, has made known she is skipping this year’s Sona; for health
reasons, she said, though more likely out of displeasure at the term-sharing agreement her father
had imposed on the chamber—a deal she had disparaged from the outset, and whose main
beneficiary, Cayetano, she is openly contemptuous of. Her like-minded brother, Davao Rep. Paolo
Duterte, further stoked speculations by saying, “Mukhang hindi pa tapos ang laban (it seems the
fight is not yet over),”  and hinting that a “coup d’etat” against his father’s pick might happen
tomorrow. To which a dismissive President pushed back with, “Have you heard of wishful
thinking?”
The way Mr. Duterte has gotten his way so far in the last three years, it’s an easy bet, of course,
that he will prevail yet again in this tussle, especially with the vast resources at his command to
dangle before the legislators, or to whip them into line. But it bears asking: Why has the position of
Speaker, the third in the line of succession to the presidency, been reduced to this—a squabble for
kingmaking and control among members of the Duterte dynasty? Depressingly, what the
proceedings so far have shown is that the lot of the people’s representatives entertain no second
thoughts about going along with the President and his brood’s flagrant intervention in House
affairs, debasing their own chamber in the process and robbing it of its constitutionally ordained
independence from the executive. By giving up their right to vote for their own choice of leader and
merely rubber-stamping the diktat of a strong-armed patron in Malacañang, the legislators are
doing the country, and their constituents in particular, a grave disservice.
Children deserve to live in peace
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:07 AM June 30, 2019
The punishment inflicted on children in times of armed conflict goes beyond the immediate risk to
their safety and health. Aside from having to dodge bullets and explosives, children must also
survive the consequences of the violence they encounter, including hunger and malnutrition,
homelessness, separation from significant others, interruption if not elimination of formal
education, and the psychological and emotional trauma of danger and deprivation.
Indeed, though they may not wear uniforms or bear arms (though many are forced to do so as child
soldiers), children make up a large portion of the civilian casualties in times of war and conflict.
And the damage done to their psyches can be expected to last well beyond the cessation of
hostilities. The opportunities lost, the scars on their mental and emotional health, the lingering
nightmares and mistrust—these may very well last a lifetime.

Case in point are the children of Mindanao, which has been a hotspot of armed conflict for decades.
Generations have lived under the shadow of war. And the fighting continues. Unicef, the UN
agency for children, says that from January to October last year, approximately 160,000 persons
were displaced in Mindanao due to armed conflict and crime and violence — half of them children.
The five-month-long Marawi crisis of 2017 sent almost the entire city population fleeing to find
shelter in evacuation centers or with relatives living nearby. Some families were even forced to
relocate in faraway places, including in one case to Boracay where the six-month closure forced the
Marawi refugees to flee once more in search of security and livelihood.
Their suffering continues. Two years after the last of the marauders were driven out, residents of
Marawi are still waiting to be allowed back in and start rebuilding their lives. Meanwhile, they
remain in what were supposed to be temporary shelters, with the children paying an especially
heavy price as they have yet to return to proper schools and recover their sense of normalcy.
One bright spot has been the passage last January of the “Children in Situations of Armed Conflict”
(CSAC) law (Republic Act No. 11188) and the completion recently of the law’s implementing
rules and regulations (IRR). Unicef supported the government’s Inter Agency Committee for the
CSAC, led by the Council for the Welfare of Children, in the nationwide consultation process and
drafting of the IRR.
Among the more important features of this law is the adoption of an expanded definition of schools
and hospitals/health facilities, to provide wider protection for these civilian facilities and serve as a
stronger deterrent against attacks on these structures, including places of worship. Corollary to this
is the expansion of the definition of Zones of Peace, not limited to “demilitarized zones” but also
extending to any community site of sacred, historic, cultural or environmental importance.

The law also includes gender-specific provisions on access of girls to education as well as to
menstrual hygiene management packs and services. More broadly, it upholds the rights of children
to be treated as victims, and affords immunity from suit for persons providing assistance.
Armed conflict renders children vulnerable to recruitment by armed groups, trafficking, other forms
of violence against children. Data gathered by the UN Country Task Force on Monitoring and
Reporting show that the most recurrent grave violations are recruitment and use of children, killing
and maiming of children, and attacks on schools. In these instances, boys are deemed more
vulnerable, with 70 percent of the verified cases of recruitment and forced servitude involving
boys.
Certainly, with the law and IRR in place, the status of children in situations of armed conflict has a
greater chance of being protected, and measures taken on their behalf easier to implement. For
Unicef, peace-building is basic to the safekeeping of children during times of conflict. Religious
leaders and youth networks, among others, need to be engaged to help communities understand the
risks and consequences of joining armed groups, and learn nonviolent ways of resolving conflicts
and reconciling divided societies.
A culture of peace and a society in peace provide the best environment where children will not only
be kept safe, but also thrive and reach their full potential.