Our sexual identity

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
February 8, 2012

We need to be more aware of this concern. This has been taken for granted for so long that now we have quite a mess of an issue.

Many people now feel quite free as to what sexual orientation they want, as if their sexual identity is a matter of their orientation of preference, totally at their mercy or absolutely of their own choosing. As if no objective law governs it.

While we always have to be tolerant to all sorts of ideas, theories, mentalities, cultures and lifestyles, we also need to be reminded that not everything has the same weight and value, and that not everything is correct and proper. Otherwise, we would have pure chaos.

Lately, we hear a US federal court has overturned the California same-sex marriage ban, considering such ban as unconstitutional. This is one consequence, affecting a country’s legal system, of the confusion and chaos that would ensue if we are not clear about things.

In the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we read the following relevant point:

“God has created human beings as male and female, equal in personal dignity, and has called them to a vocation of love and of communion. Everyone should accept his or her identity as male or female, recognizing its importance for the whole of the person, its specificity and complementarity.” (487)

When we are born, we are either male or female. That’s why the first thing we look at even while the baby is still in the womb, as in the ultrasound probe, is the organ. The hermaphrodite is an anomaly that needs to be corrected one way or another.

We have to accept this biological distinction and start to build up on it, because our sexual identity is not only biological, but is also connected to our whole human nature as a person, both individual and social, and the whole gamut of considerations that we are subject to.

In other words, we have a responsibility of affirming, developing and defending our sexual identity. We need to cultivate our sexual identity especially, giving utmost care and attention in areas that are subject to changing understanding. We carry that out with God’s grace and with all the effort we can give. And it’s an ongoing affair.

We just cannot sit pretty and think we will be male or female by mere biological inertia. We need to act on it, especially these days when confusing ideologies and fashions tend to blur the distinction and to hold our sexual identity captive to very subjective criteria, instead of linking it to God’s law and our duty toward others.

That confusing phenomenon is pretty much a by-product of our crisis of faith, of where to find our ultimate guide, since there are now a growing number of people who think things just depend completely on us and on our consensus. No such thing as God.

And much less would they give a hoot to Church teaching.

Thus, we should realize that a kind of campaign, a kind of catechesis is needed. In fact, the whole concern of evangelization should include this issue if it has to be an integral evangelization.

We need to remember that just like everything else in our life, like our body, our talents, our freedom, etc., our sexual identity did not originate with us, but with God, our creator, with the procreative mediation of our parents. We always need to refer our sexual identity to God and his laws.

Such effort to affirm, develop and defend our sexual identity is what comprises the virtue of chastity. It’s the virtue that integrates our sexuality within the person, making it truly human, and not just a toy to play with, or a human aspect merely ruled by hormones.

Admittedly, it’s a complex virtue to develop. At the moment, it seems tangled in a mess of negative impressions composed of myths and other historical misunderstandings that need to be sorted out and explained. This will take time and we can expect a lot of controversies.

But with patience, I think we can succeed in clarifying things. Chastity is such a beautiful virtue that would enable us to love God and others properly – all the way to the use of our sexuality. It takes us away from the clutches of a self-centered vision of life, blind to the spiritual and supernatural dimension of our life.

We have to make sure that the new generations will understand the true meaning of our sexuality, and work hard to cultivate their proper sexual identity.

AHRC condoles with the families who lost love ones in the Visayas earthquake

A Statement from the Asian Human Rights Commission
February 7, 2012

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expresses its condolences to the Filipino people, in particular those that have lost their loved ones and homes in the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck yesterday, February 6, in the islands of Negros and Cebu, in the Visayas.

On the islands of Negros and Cebu, where some of the country's poorest live, the extent of the impact into the lives of the people and their society as a result of this tragedy is expectedly even more. How the affected people respond to the earthquake, as shown by the footage and the pictures taken during the earthquake, demonstrates the depth of uncertainty as to where they should go for help. The panic and chaos at the time of the disaster were not only the people's traumatic response, but also a result of the deep sense of uncertainty in events of disasters.

The information is that the number of deaths is increasing, in one report from the government's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the deaths was recorded at 15. Subsequent reports, however, have since been coming out raising the even more that 50 people with scores of others wounded. Many persons are missing. Roads and bridges have been damaged and made impassable for any but the lightest or smallest vehicles. The dead include two elementary school children who died when the walls of their school collapsed.

A level 2 tsunami alert was issued by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology for the areas along the Tanon Strait between Negros and neighboring Cebu. Fortunately there was no sign of a tsunami and the alert was later lifted. The AHRC appreciates the sense of community, particularly by the military stationed in the affected areas, for coordinating with local government offices in conducting search and rescue operation; and evacuation centres were set up in some affected areas. In some places security has been tightened to prevent looting.

This disaster, once again, demonstrates the resilience of the Filipino people. The local government involved should take immediate action in declaring their affected areas under a state of calamity, which would allow the release of the calamity fund. The relief and assistance, in addition to rescuing the people saving their lives, particularly those trapped in collapsed buildings or those who are still missing, is of an immediate and utmost importance.

The people's response to the earthquake, which come is less than two months after tropical storm Sendong, that also claimed over a thousand lives and left others still missing in Mindanao, demonstrates as to how the government had since been taking actions in securing lives and the property of their constituents in terms of preparedness in event of disasters. In poor provinces like Negros and Cebu, where most people barely receive the benefits of government service or the presence of the government is felt, traumatic response and panic in the event of disasters are inevitable.

In this type of society, the people make all efforts for their own survival, in absence or lack of government intervention; the people are left on their own to figure out what they need to do in order to preserve themselves and their families; and, doing as much as they can do in community with others, in providing relief and aid to their own neighbors, again, in the event when the government fails.

Once again, while the AHRC commends the efforts of the people, and the actions that the government has taken so far; however, we further urge that both the national and local governments do more in saving the lives and property of the people. Those who are hardest hit and had suffered the most, particularly the poorest sections of these provinces where relief and assistance are needed, should also be given utmost priority.

Earthquakes – many more coming in 2012? Sen. Chiz wants LGUs audited on compliance with risk disaster management compliance

By CHITO DELA TORRE
February 3, 2012

Last February 1, 2012, the Waray region’s surface soil, rocks and minerals shook, three times in a span of less than an hour.  The first shock was felt only once, briefly, for less than a second, as many observed.  The second, after about 5 minutes, lasted for about two seconds. The third, about more than 5 minutes from the second, was much longer.  The third shock caused houses and big buildings and some trees to visibly shake.  People ran to the streets.  Students and some teachers went home.  There was repeated screaming – HOO!  HOO!  HOYYY!  In the 50s, huge screams were said to be necessary, as the only way to stop the quakes.  Tales of old creeping to modern times so said that a dragon was trying to come out from beneath the earth and that people only needed to shoo it away by their shouts of Hoos.

A text message reaching me from Cebu City said of that Feb. 1 earthquake: “intensity III an linog dida, intensity IV ha Borongan”.

The small tremors were recorded as having occurred, with a magnitude of 5.2 from a depth of 61 kilometers at 12:30:54 p.m. (noon) at its epicenter, 75 kilometers or 46 miles north northwest of the town of Guiuan (which completes the south tail end of the island of Samar, in the province of Eastern Samar, Philippines, or 80 km (49 miles) northeast of Tacloban highly urbanized city in Leyte island.

On the same day, less than 2 hours later, Southern Sumatra in Indonesia jolted at a magnitude of 5.6 from a movement 69.1 km beneath the earth, with stronger jolts shaking Bengkulu.

My year 2011 Sunday serial articles here on predictions and reactions to claims about the world’s coming to its end included earthquakes as among the predicted causes or signs towards an end-world scenario. In that year, there indeed had been several big earthquakes, including those that hit Japan in March.  Earthquakes were also said to continue in year 2012, particularly as signs leading to the predicted end by December 21, 2012.  Just this year, there have already been a series of quakes, in various points of our planet.  Last January 31, the jolts were at near the east coast of Honshu, Japan, at 4.8 magnitude, and at New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea, at 4.9.  On Feb. 1, other shocks were reported between 2:43 a.m. and 9:43 p.m., in many places, like Albania, Chile, Manitoba in Canada, Northern Peru (on Jan. 30, hundreds were injured from a M 6.3 quake that shook Ica in Peru), the Fiji Region, Java in Indonesia, Greater London region, Kuril Islands, Banda Sea, Liaoning in China, Southern California, Wells in Nevada, and the Easter Island Region.  For more information, you may visit http://earthquake-report.com or http://disaster-report.blogspot.com.

It had seemed that earthquakes could be “predicted”, that is, by some, may be by scientists, or, by clairvoyants.  Or ordinary citizens, denizens or netizens can make their own predictions.  But scientific predictions are much more reliable.  A few end-world predictors have been found out to be also making a good, and profitable (if you didn’t already know) use of scientific predictions, by say, simply studying the calendars and past earthquake events, or through mathematical calculations.  A fewer others, though, simply make general statements while citing certain applicable provisions in the Holy Bible.  How their predictions are handled by the end-user becomes a private and individual process.  The exception lies, however, in pieces of advice on how to prepare for earthquakes.  (And here, maybe the local government unit of Basey is correct when it sits sometime this month of February with stakeholders to plan and prepare for natural and man-caused disasters, including possible earthquakes, especially in light of the fact that Basey lies near or along a fault line that is traced to have come from Luzon and to be going down to Mindanao, and of the global fact that, like the Philippines itself, it is on the direct path of the global belt that is said to be that part of the earth where earthquakes could be only be less seldom but not infrequent.  (You may want to visit http://earthquakesummary.info/.)

Along this continuum of preparations, Senator Chiz Escudero is pressing for the audit of LGUs on disaster risk management compliance, saying that all local government units (LGUs) must be audited for compliance with disaster risk reduction and management plan as mandated by Republic Act (RA) 10211 or the Disaster Management Act of 2010.  Very clear.  There is a law to comply. RA 10211.  Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on environment and natural resources, urged the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to conduct a comprehensive review and assessment of local government’s adherence to the disaster risk management and response, even after the department’s issuance of a policy requiring LGUs to reorganize and enhance the capacities of their respective local disaster risk and management council.  With the law in effect, Escudero stressed that no single unit of the local government should be excused or exempted from integrating disaster planning, management and response into their governance.

“We need 100 percent compliance. The lessons of the past tragedies should by now already strengthened and stabilized disaster management and response in every nook and cranny of our local units as natural disasters could now strike anytime, weather notwithstanding” Escudero said.

RA 10121 requires the establishment of Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (LDRRMO) in every province, city and municipality. Each LDRRMO is also required to have an LDRRM plan, which it shall implement together with local partners and stakeholders.  “All LGUs must conduct hazards and risks assessment, establish possible evacuation centers and keep and update a map of the danger and risk areas in their localities. With these fundamentals coupled with strict adherence to warnings and recommendations, we can avert tragedies like the ones that recently struck Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Compostela Valley,” Escudero explained.

DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo said in a report that 69 out of the 79 provinces in the country have already complied with the law, while 114 out of the 138 cities have followed suit. The report also cited compliance by 1,128 out of 1,496 municipalities.

Compliance in the barangay level, however, has yet to pick up as there are only 1,699 barangays out of the 42,025 nationwide which have so far complied with the provisions of the law.   With the law in effect, Escudero stressed that no single unit of the local government should be excused or exempted from integrating disaster planning, management and response into their governance.

The causes of earthquakes have already been, and continue to be, determined and established.  (Children and adults may read through http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/kids/eqscience.php.)  Dr. Gerard Fryer (Hawaii Institute of Geophysics & Planetology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu) in http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/ASK/earthquakes.html answers the question “What causes earthquakes?” thus:  ‘The short answer is that earthquakes are caused by faulting, a sudden lateral or vertical movement of rock along a rupture (break) surface.

‘Here's the longer answer: The surface of the Earth is in continuous slow motion. This is plate tectonics – the motion of immense rigid plates at the surface of the Earth in response to flow of rock within the Earth. The plates cover the entire surface of the globe. Since they are all moving they rub against each other in some places (like the San Andreas Fault in California), sink beneath each other in others (like the Peru-Chile Trench along the western border of South America), or spread apart from each other (like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge). At such places the motion isn't smooth--the plates are stuck together at the edges but the rest of each plate is continuing to move, so the rocks along the edges are distorted (what we call "strain"). As the motion continues, the strain builds up to the point where the rock cannot withstand any more bending. With a lurch, the rock breaks and the two sides move. An earthquake is the shaking that radiates out from the breaking rock.

‘People have known about earthquakes for thousands of years, of course, but they didn't know what caused them. In particular, people believed that the breaks in the Earth's surface – faults – which appear after earthquakes, were caused *by* the earthquakes rather than the cause *of* them. It was Bunjiro Koto, a geologist in Japan studying a 60-mile long fault whose two sides shifted about 15 feet in the great Japanese earthquake of 1871, who first suggested that earthquakes were caused by faults. Henry Reid, studying the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, took the idea further. He said that an earthquake is the huge amount of energy released when accumulated strain causes a fault to rupture. He explained that rock twisted further and further out of shape by continuing forces over the centuries eventually yields in a wrenching snap as the two sides of the fault slip to a new position to relieve the strain. This is the idea of "elastic rebound" which is now central to all studies of fault rupture.’

+ + + + + + + + 

“Changes in society are due chiefly to the development of the internal contradictions in society, that is, the contradiction between the productive forces and the relations of production, the contradiction between classes and the contradiction between the old and the new; it is the development of these contradictions that pushes society forward and gives the impetus for the supersession of the old society by the new.” - Mao Tse Tung, On Contradictions.

“Bad is never good until worse happens.” - Danish proverb.

Free Ericson Acosta now!

A campaign statement of the Free Ericson Acosta
January 23, 2012

Detained artist Ericson Acosta ended his hunger strike December 10, amidst initial assurances that government is heeding the demand to look into his case and that of other political prisoners. Acosta was visited in jail by representatives of the Commission on Human Rights-Region 8 (CHR-8) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Acosta’s family and the network of artists, friends and advocates behind the Free Ericson Acosta Campaign (FEAC), appeal once again to concerned Philippine authorities to free Ericson Acosta and all political prisoners immediately.

In August 2011, the Amnesty International (AI) released a statement urging authorities to “end Acosta’s detention without trial.” After six months in detention, the international human rights group expressed concern that Acosta, like “anyone subject to arrest or detention is ‘entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release.’” The AI also pointed out rights violations in the conduct of Acosta’s arrest and detention.  “Death threats and prolonged sleep deprivation for the purpose of interrogation violate the international prohibition against torture and other ill-treatment. These practices violate the Convention against Torture, which the Philippines has ratified… The Philippine authorities must investigate these allegations and hold the perpetrators accountable.”

Pending before the Department of Justice (DOJ) since September 1, 2011 is the Petition for Review of the illegal possession of explosive complaint against Acosta. Aside from the Petition filed by his counsel the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), the FEAC network also submitted before the Office of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, several statements of support for Acosta’s release signed by hundreds of artists, journalists and human rights advocates; and publicly released by different groups and individuals. The filing of the Review Petition and the artists’ protest held outside the DOJ premises that day were supported by no less than then-Executive Director of the government-run National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), acclaimed playwright Malou Jacob.

While detained in a civilian facility, Acosta continues to suffer harassment and intimidation from the military. Since July, a platoon of soldiers from the 87th IB was deployed near the Calbayog sub-provincial jail in the pretext of military operations. Today a squad of soldiers from the 14th IB, apparently deployed to guard Acosta, has literally set up camp within the jail compound. The prosecution’s recent motion to transfer Acosta’s custody we believe is based on an imagined, if not engineered threat, and tramples upon civilian authority. Acosta’s court appearances are all scheduled to be held in Calbayog City, making the motion obviously impractical as Catbalogan is hours away from Calbayog. Transferring Acosta will make visits more difficult and prone to military surveillance for his family and supporters. Military deployment inside the civilian facility is highly irregular as it is, and the plan to transfer Acosta to a soldier town like Catbalogan is completely unacceptable. Acosta has had enough suffering in detention to be violated several times over with overkill security arrangements.

Human rights groups have long called on President Aquino to free all political prisoners in the country. They lament the continuing practice of criminalization of political offenses, and cite the campaign for unconditional amnesty as goodwill measure for the peace talks between the government and rebel groups to move forward. Some 38 congressmen have already signed House Resolution 1956 citing the case of Ericson Acosta and urging President Aquino to grant unconditional amnesty to all political prisoners.

Acosta’s family and supporters continue to appeal to concerned Philippine authorities, along with the Amnesty International, the NCCA, the University Council of University of the Philippines, Diliman, the Philippine Center of the International PEN and several other artist and human rights organizations and institutions around the world such as the Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines-United Kingdom, the Rice and Rights Network in the Netherlands, Habi Arts USA, etc., have all made public their appeal to the Philippine government to release Acosta and to look into the irregularities and rights violations in the conduct of his arrest and detention. Acosta was even cited finalist of the 2011 Imprisoned Artist Prize at the Freedom to Create Awards Festival in Cape Town, South Africa in November, for the contribution of his work in promoting the creative spirit while highlighting injustice.

Nearly a year has passed since cultural worker Ericson Acosta was arrested by the military in Samar on February 13, 2011. He was tortured, interrogated for 44 hours straight and held incommunicado for three days before a fabricated charge of illegal possession of explosive was levied against him to justify his arrest and continued detention. At the time of his arrest, he was carrying only a laptop and some personal belongings and was accompanied by a local barangay official as a volunteer researcher of the peasant group Kapunungan han Gudti nga Parag-uma ha Weste han Samar (KAPAWA), a member-organization of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP). Philippine authorities must end his unjust detention.  FREE ERICSON ACOSTA NOW!

Dawning of the vultures of freedom and democracy!

A Press statement by ANAD Partylist Cong. Pastor M. Alcover Jr.
January 21, 2012

The country is now made to bear witness to a very important political development that might alter the historical track of our freedoms, democratic well being, and institutions. The Filipino people is forced to a very serious situation purposely and meticulously culled by those whose ulterior motive is to institute political change: from a republican-presidential to the violent and inhuman communist dictatorship, either through the sheaths and swords of the brutal Maoist terrorist Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF); or the so-called Smiling Communists in Akbayan Partylist perceived to be less violent but still is efficient in using the dreaded iron-fist rule once they get hold of the reins of governance.

The ‘Impeachment Trial’ of Chief Justice Renato Corona is but a tip of an entire ingenious plan designed to stir public opinion away from and against government thus fueling mob rule to hasten the establishment of a revolutionary government by way of sharing the power and authority of government between the constitutionally mandated officials of government and the Maoist terrorist CPP-NPA-NDF.

This game plan was ably laid down and set into motion by the wily Maoist terrorist CPP-NPA-NDF political operators, particularly those that succeeded in infiltrating Malacañang and the pedestal of power and governance in the country. Not to be outdone are the equally deceptive yet cunning political operators of the Smiling Communists that are currently nestled in equally influential positions in the executive and constitutional offices of government.

Our sources in the pedestals of power and authority revealed that among the distinguished actors in these scheme are: then Akbayan President Ronald Llamas who is now PNoy’s Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs; Secretary Teresita ‘Ging’ Quintos-Deles head of the very influential Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP); and Loretta Ann ‘Etta’ Rosales, Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), a constitutional office; among others. Equally wagging their Maoist terrorist CPP-NPA-NDF influence and lies are Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, cousin of the wife of CPP chairman Jose Ma. Sison, Juliet de Lima; Atty. Alex Padilla, chief negotiator of the GPH panel; panel members: Atty. Pablito Sanidad, Maria Lourdes Tison, and Jurgette Honculada; Jose Luis Martin Gascon, and Eugenio Roberto Cadiz of the GPH Monitoring Committee; and Fr. Albert E. Alejo SJ, Secretariat Head, GPH Monitoring Committee.

This is aside from the many Maoist terrorist legal/front sectoral organizations that are currently stirring the sentiments of Filipinos and fomenting public outcry against government. By far, these groups and individuals are one in carrying out Mao Tse Tung’s doctrine: A good communist is one who has mastered the art of creating a revolutionary situation!

Now, their forces are joined because they’ve just one common objective and enemy – to create disgust and hate among our people eventually causing the fall and capitulation of the duly constituted free and democratic government of the Republic of the Philippines and replace it with their brand of communist dictatorship!

The Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) Partylist is fully aware that the debilitating communist worms and viruses are all over. One staunch political leader was quoted saying – “They are all over the place!”

What then is the scenario that they’ve unfolded? While the Maoist sectoral KMP-AMGL are boisterous in their call for the distribution of Hacienda Luisita to the thousands of its farm-worker beneficiaries and at the same time strongly opposed to the Motion for Reconsideration filed with the Supreme Court by the management of Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), Bayan Muna and other Maoist terrorist sectoral front organizations are behind the anti-Chief Justice Corona campaign to kick the latter out of the Supreme Court.

This ingenious plot is not known to many. But ANAD is fully confident in saying that there is “more than meets the eye” in this. One must not miss that time when Bayan Muna and their ilk decided to support President Aquino III despite the fact that the KMPAMGL campaign in Hacienda Luisita is directly opposed to the consciousness and heart of the President. Many would then ask: Why are they doing this? The answer is but simple: Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino et. al. are more than serious and hell-bent in asking PNoy for the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill that was then endorsed by PNoy to Congress as a priority legislative measure.

As far as the communists are concerned, the FOI measure is far more important than the Hacienda Luisita farm-workers’ interest. They know for a fact that with their present influence in Malacañang and their efficient infiltration of the structures of government, the FOI bill, once it becomes a law, could best serve their intentions by the informations and documents that their hands could lay on, e.g. political, economic, and security concerns, to hasten the collapse of our government.

On the other hand, obvious is the fact that once CJ Corona is ousted from the Supreme Court, the communists are seeing better prospects for the denial of the HLI’s Motion for Reconsideration. It is just like hitting two birds at the same time. But still and always, the passage of the FOI bill remains on top of their priority.

The widely circulated “The Philippines Communist Creeping Invasion”, though discreetly among well-meaning pro-democracy Filipinos, bared all of the machinations, lies, and plays that the communists, e.g. Maoist and Smiling communists, planned and unfurled to serve their devious ends. Even the so-called rightist forces, either in the AFP, PNP, and the civilian sectors, were effectively co-opted for their devilish ends.

The big question left for us would then be: What happens when Jose Ma. Sison makes his triumphant return to the country and later on given a Cabinet position, under the guise of the so-called National Unification Plan that reportedly is supported by PNoy? Isn’t this the ‘Dawning of the vultures of freedom and democracy?

ANAD Rep. Jun Alcover recently warned, “Our cherished freedoms and democratic life is definitely fading out and about to be lost, and the situation is getting murky in cadence with the developing political landscape of the country. Power sharing in government is a prelude to the eventual take over of government by the Maoist terrorists!

Once this happens, because of our willful refusal to protect and preserve our freedoms and democratic institutions, only God know what will happen to us!”

◄◄home I next►►