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Showing posts with label Column. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Column. Show all posts

Fake News

Posted on 16 December 2019 No comments

By Daisy Catherine L. Mandap

We live in difficult, if not dangerous times in Hong Kong.

The anti-government protests that started nearly six months ago in the wake of an attempt by the government to pass an extradition bill have shown no sign of a let-up.

Mercifully, the escalation of violence that ultimately led to more than 5,000 people being arrested abated long enough for a watershed election to be held.

But for how long will this uneasy calm last?

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If we’re being optimistic we’d say that the administration should see the vote of no-confidence by the electorate in the Nov 24 election as a sign they should relent a bit and listen more to the protesters’ grievances.

But if we allow ourselves to wallow in the same state of hopelessness we were in when the protests escalated a few weeks ago we won’t see an end to the mayhem unless one side makes a major concession.

As we stay on the edge of our seats waiting for things to unfold, or hopefully end, we should also make sure we don’t fall prey to the misinformation swirling around us.

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There’s enough uncertainty facing us all here, and we shouldn’t compound it by raising a false alarm, spreading unverified information, or worse, deliberately feeding our community with lies.

Most vulnerable to misinformation are members of our migrant community, who by their sheer number, are able to share news to a wider audience, and fast.

Forced to stay put in their employers’ homes on their only rest day in the week because of the protests, they get to spend even more time checking their mobile phones and passing on information.

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The trouble is, some of them don’t bother with fact-checking even if the information can be checked readily by accessing mainstream media or other more reliable sources like the Consulate’s Facebook page.

Thus, the story about a supposed mass evacuation of Filipinos from Hong Kong easily caught on, and spread fast. Never mind if this was only raised as a possibility by the Philippine Labor Secretary during radio interviews in Manila.

The story so alarmed the community that Consul General Raly Tejada took no time setting the record straight. “I would like to put this issue to rest,” he said in his first meeting with Filcom leaders.

Speculations did die down considerably, but there remain many holdouts. Reacting recently to our story on the spike in the number of Filipino domestic workers arriving in Hong Kong despite the chaos, a netizen chastised us with, “Hindi ba ninyo na alam na may ban na si Bello dyan?”

There are many others spread by people with lots of time on their hands, and who specifically target our OFWs, knowing how fast unverified stories could travel among them.

Who could forget the story about migrant workers supposedly being offered $5,000 to take part in rallies? If it didn’t alarm so many people in the community it would have been laughable, especially since this was the time when two million people took to the streets to join the anti-extradition call.

Who would bother enticing fake protesters with money when there were millions who genuinely believed in the cause and had no qualms showing it?

Another rumor that spread fast was the supposed offer of a reward by the police to any domestic worker who would snitch on their employers who join the protests. This one caught on because former Chief Executive CY Leung re-posted the leaflets supposedly advertising the police offer.

But CY or not, this blatant disinformation, like all the rest, could be easily discerned. For one thing, the leaflets supposedly targeting migrant workers were in Cantonese. For another, they listed down unknown numbers for the police when calling 999 would have been far simpler and faster.

What we should emphasize here is that indeed, relying on social media for information is the only way forward. It is faster, more accessible, and offers a wide variety of news sources to choose from.

But using social media comes with a lot of risk, and its advantages could also turn to disadvantages. Thus we must always treat stories that we get off it with caution and discernment. How reliable is the source, how credible is the story itself?

Until we get into the habit of checking and double checking our information we must hold off passing it around. That is the only way we could help ease some of the problems besetting us during these difficult times.


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Di man kasali ay damay tayo

Posted on 25 November 2019 No comments

Ni Vir B. Lumicao

Ito ay hindi pangkaraniwang panahon sa Hong Kong. Sa nakaraang anim na buwan ay naranasan nating naririto ang isang mapanganib na yugto ng kasaysayan nitong lungsod.

Dahil sa mga pangyayari sa larangang pampulitika ay biglang nabago ang takbo ng buhay natin, at pati ang ating mga pangarap ay kahit paano naaapektuhan ng mga pangyayari.

Noong panahon ng tinatawag na Umbrella Revolution ay hindi tayo gaanong nabagabag dahil hindi iyon kasindahas at kasintagal ng kasalukuyang pakikibaba para mapanatili ang demokrasya rito kapag ganap nang pamamahalaan ng China ang lugar na ito.

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Hindi gaanong marahas ang kilos protestang iyon dahil sa pagtitimpi ng bawat panig, lalo na ng puwersa ng gobyerno na talagang lamang sa sandatang payong ng mga aktibista.

Noong panahong iyon ay tila mahaba pa ang pasensiya ng mga alagad ng batas sa mga protesta ng masa na nanatiling mapayapa kung hindi rin lang dadahasin ng kapulisan.

Kung kaya noon ay hindi gaanong nababahala ang mga naninirahan sa Hong Kong, maging mga lokal na mamamayan o mga dayuhang tulad natin.

Hindi pa mababangis ang mga pulis noon kaya maraming dayuhan, kabilang na ang mga kababayan natin, ang sumama sa protesta at naghayag din ng kanilang mga sama ng loob.

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Nagkaroon man ng dagok ang pag-aalsa, na nabansagan ding Occupy Hong Kong, mabilis na nakabawi ang pook na ito at naibalik sa normal ang buhay ng mga mamamayan. Tayong mga dumayo rito upang maghanap-buhay ay di gaanong nabahala.

Sa ating pagbabalik-tanaw, maganda ang ibinunga ng kilusang protestang iyon dahil ipinakita niya sa mga namumuno sa Hong Kong at sa buong mundo na kung kailangang magkaisa at manindigan para sa kanilang karapatan ay tumatalima ang mga mamamayan.

Bumubuhos sa mga lansangan ang milyun-milyong tao upang ibulalas ang kanilang mga hinaing at saloobin, lalo na ang mga pangamba nila sa kanilang magiging kinabukasan.

Ngunit may mga elemento ng lipunang hindi natuwa sa mga pangyayari at sa bandang katapusan ng pag-aalsang iyon ay gumamit sila ng mga maton upang marahas na sawatain ang mga nagpuprotesta.

Marahil nakita ng ilang mga nasa puwesto na mabisang paraan sa pagsawata ng protesta ang ipaubaya sa mga butangero ang pagpaparusa sa mga ayaw sumunod sa batas.

Nang muling bumangon ang mga taga-Hong Kong noong Hunyo upang labanan ang napipintong pagsasabatas ng Extradition Bill ay napaghandaaan na ng mga alagad ng batas ang mga nagmamartsa.

Habang nagmamatigas ang pamahalaan sa panawagang ibasura ang Extradition Bill ay ginagamitan naman ng pulisya ng higit na dahas ang mga kontra sa panukala.

Muling gumamit ng mga maton ang mga nasa poder at nag-angkat pa sila ng mga taga-China upang mansuhin ang mga aktibista. Tumaas ang antas ng karahasang gamit ng mga pulis at natural na magtanggol sa sarili ang mga aktibista.

Mariing dagok sa kabuhayan ng Hong Kong ang kaguluhan ng nakalipas na anim na buwan, at maging tayong mga ayaw sumali sa mga nangyayari ay nakakaramdam ng epekto ng walang katapusang tunggalian.

Ang isang ekonomiyang tulad ng Hong Kong na umaasa sa perang ipapasok ng mga serbisyo sa pananalapi at turismo ay nagdaranas ng matinding epekto ng pag-iwas ng mga negosyo at mga turista sa lungsod na ito.

Hindi magtatagal ay may maririnig na tayong mga kababayang nawawalan ng trabaho dahil hindi na kayang bayaran ng mga negosyong kumuha sa kanila. Makakabalita rin tayo ng mga OFW na pauuwiin na dahil ang mga mismong amo ay wala nang trabaho.

Sa araw-araw na magpapatuloy at umiigting ang labanan ay lumalapit tayo sa bangin, sa ayaw natin at sa gusto. At ang katotohanang ito ay dapat nating mapaghandaan.

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My mother, my hero

Posted on 12 November 2019 No comments

By Daisy Catherine L. Mandap

(This eulogy was written for my mother, Francisca Larin Mandap, who passed on peacefully on Oct 15 at age 93. Sharing it here as a tribute to all mothers, especially OFWs who choose to stay away from home so they could ensure a better future for their family. May their children recognize and value the immense love and sacrifice behind this selfless act). 

My Ma was a simple woman who lived a simple life but dreamt big. For us, her nine children, especially, so we may live a better life, bound by love and the same desire to make the world a better place for our own children.

Our mother was a simple woman, true. She enjoyed eating with her hands – the only one allowed to do so in the family – and preferred paksiw and pinangat over any fancy meat dish.

But she was also very intelligent, decisive, and fierce if necessary.

Many of those who knew her will probably remember her as the one person who didn’t smile a lot. She wasn’t the easiest person to please because she was a perfectionist. She did everything meticulously, from cooking a myriad of dishes to sewing, embroidery, crocheting, and ironing.

To this day, I still regard her as the best iron woman — or man—who ever lived, meaning she could iron out the tiniest crease in a barong or an organza gown and make them look like they just came from the laundry she once owned.

She was also legendary with the way she washed clothes. Even with heaps of clothes to wash she never compromised on her 2 + 3 routine. This meant washing clothes twice with soap, and rinsing them thrice. If they had a stain, they should first be dabbed with calamansi juice and left out in the sun.

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One memory that has stuck is of her going down on her knees and scrubbing the white tiles in our bathroom with muriatic acid until they were spotless, and all the while singing in her high-pitched soprano voice. We used to get annoyed being awakened by this in the mornings, until we realized our neighbors actually looked forward to hearing her sing.

She had helpers on and off, but she did many of the chores herself, especially the marketing and the cooking. And the partitioning. With 9 kids to feed, it was very important that we all got to eat as much as the others.

She was well-known for her ability to divide any kind of food – including a watermelon – into 9 or 11 equal pieces so you’d be hard pressed to choose which portion is bigger.

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She was also very intelligent. It’s an acknowledged fact in her family that though she chose to give up her studies so she could help her younger siblings get a degree, she was the most promising among them, having been accelerated twice in school when she was young. That says a lot about a family that produced a topnotcher in a national teachers’ exam and a brother who passed the CPA board at 19, even before he could graduate from college.

She brooked no disobedience from us because she was most obedient to her own parents, especially her mother who was a tiger mom herself. She once told us that she had to forego an offer of a singing scholarship in Japan because her mother said no.

Their widowed mother, a Chinese mestiza who wasn’t given a chance to pursue higher learning, had better plans for her brood of four. Seeing not much future for them in their hometown of San Luis, Pampanga, my grandmother decided to bring her kids to Manila, where her eldest, my mother, took it upon herself to help provide for the family by doing odd jobs, including working in a cousin’s laundry shop, before eventually owning one herself.

Having lived through the war with hardly anything to live on, my mother and her only brother teamed up to provide food for the family. Both would tell us later of walking for miles on end while selling stuff like cigarettes, and surviving only on watermelons that my uncle swore off eating when his life became more comfortable.

The war also brought out their nationalistic bent. My mother and her siblings, along with a few cousins, joined the Hukbalahap (Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon), a movement originally formed to resist Japanese occupation in the Philippines. This was how my mother became a recognized war veteran for which she was paid a pension in her later years

My mother used to tell us stories of how Japanese soldiers loved her singing that she was often asked to sing to them. But I was to learn later on that she did more than just this. An aunt recently told us that my mother and a niece who also sang well, managed to save several guerilla lives by making their release a precondition for entertaining the Japanese troops.


A lifelong learner, my mother acquired many other skills, like sewing. This came in handy for someone with seven daughters. We never wanted for new clothes because she would always sew clothes for us on special occasions, like the debut of our two eldest sisters, our junior-senior prom, our graduation.

Most of the time, our dresses were fashioned out of cotton sacks used for chicken feed which she got from an uncle who owned a poultry, but we didn’t mind. We felt spoiled enough to have new dresses made on special occasions.

I will always remember the time I asked her to make me hot pants which were in vogue at the time. She spent a long time figuring out how to make it, but she did, eventually. Those hot pants, red orange in colour, will always remind me of how much love she had for us, though she wasn’t much for hugs or kisses.

But her best legacy to us was her dogged determination that we all stayed in school to get a degree. Her frustration at not being able to get into college made her very determined in making sure we got to where she dreamt of going.

That determination, combined with real tough love, proved contagious for all of us. We mostly studied and worked at the same time, as eager to share her vision and earn her approval as much as we wanted to secure a better future for ourselves.

We are very lucky and thankful that our mother got to stay with us this long, because long after we got married and had children of our own, she remained a strong guiding force to all of us.

All of us, down to her great grandchildren, benefited from her vision, generous spirit and unselfish love.

In my case, in particular, my mother was the first to come to my rescue when my helper got very sick soon after I had my first child. She took leave from work, flew to HK, and stayed with me until I found a new helper.

She rushed to my side again when my youngest, who was born with a hole in her heart, got so frail I decided to have her baptized immediately. The problem was, the Catholic diocese in HK was firm about requiring my and my husband’s birth certificates.

To this day, I don’t know how my mother managed to secure both documents, mine from Pampanga and my husband’s from Pasay City, and fly to Hong Kong within days, and with a baptismal gown to boot.

That’s our mother. The superwoman without whom we wouldn’t have managed to stand on our own feet, and raise our kids in the manner she taught us well.

Our mother was one of a kind. We are eternally blessed to have been gifted with someone like her.

Goodbye, Ma. Thank you for everything. Go now to our Lord’s loving embrace.
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Karahasan

Posted on 08 November 2019 No comments

Nakapanlulumong panoorin sa TV ang mga karahasang nangyayari sa paligid natin. Parang wala nang katuturan ang walang habas na paninira ngayon. Hindi na ito upang gumawa ng punto, hindi na upang magbigay ng mensahe, hindi na upang magpakita ng mas magandang argumento upang makamit ang pagbabago.

Ano ba naman, halimbawa, ang magandang  idudulot ng pagwasak sa mga kagamitan at pagsunog sa mga istasyon ng MTR? Ang mga nanira rin ang walang masakyan kinabukasan, at nadamay pa ang karamihan.

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At ngayon, ang buong ekonomiya ay nasasaktan. Pinangangambahan ang pagdating ng recession, o ang pag-atras ng ekonomiya. Isa sa nga dahilan nito ay bumagsak ang numero ng mga turista, na nagbibigay ng trabaho sa maraming tao. Humina rin ang negosyo ng mga bangko, na isa sa pinaka-malaking pwersa ng  ekonomiya, at real estate.

Hindi naman ganito ka-grabe noong nagsisimula pa lamang ang protesta laban sa isang panukala sa Legislative Council na payagan ang mga bansang walang extradition treaty sa Hong Kong na kunin din ang kanilang mga kriminal na nagtatago dito. Ayon kasi  sa mga lider ng protesta, pwede itong gamitin ng China upang kunin din hindi lang ang mga kriminal kundi iyong mga negrerebelde laban sa komunista nitong palakad.

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Hindi ba umabot pa sa dalawang milyon ang nag-martsa mula sa Victoria Park hanggang sa Central Government Offices? Ito ay noong iisa pa lamang ang kahilingan ng mga protesta.

Nagsimula ang karahasan nang magpaputok ng tear gas ang mga pulis sa mga sumunod na protesta. At lumala ito nang paghahampasin ng yantok at tubo ang mga nagprotesta at ordinaryong tao sa isang MTR station, at inakusahan ang pulisya na kakutasaba dito.

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Ngayon ay hindi na lang iisa ang demand ng mga nagpo-protesta, kundi lima, kasama na ang imbestigasyon sa karahasan ng pulisya at eleksyon ng lahat ng mamumuno sa Hong Kong.

Pinalampas ng mga opisyal ang pagkakataong i-resolba ang iisang kahilingan noon ng mamamayan. Makinig na sana sila sa mga hinaing na dapat ay naaksyunan noon pa, at tapusin na ang lumalalang gulo. Dahil lahat tayo ay damay dito.


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