Philippines

More on the Subic Bay Rape Case: “Nicole” recants

March 21, 2009 By Isabel Esterman Leave a Comment

In the latest twist of the Subic Bay Rape case, “Nicole,” the (pseudonym of the) Filipina whose accusation led to US Marine Daniel Smith’s rape conviction, has recanted her testimony and relocated to the United States.

Nicole has been through three years of absolute hell — from the incident itself, to the trial, the media circus, and vicious attacks on her character from all sides — and I don’t think I have any right to comment on her decision to recant. The only thing I can say is, ‘of course.’

Of course it would end this way.

The Philippine Supreme Court has ruled that Smith must be returned to Philippine custody. The U.S. has steadfastly refused to comply. The Visiting Forces Agreement is being seriously challenged, with both sides of the debate marshaling up in force.

Both the US and the Philippine governments desperately need a way for this case to disappear without having to publicly back down. And then there’s this one woman, who just wants to live the rest of her life in peace (preferably in the U.S.) who has the power to make it all go away…

Filed Under: Philippines, politics Tagged With: Philippines, Subic Bay Rape Case, VFA

The Subic Bay Rape Case continues

February 16, 2009 By Isabel Esterman Leave a Comment

On February 11, the Philippine Supreme court ruled Daniel Smith, the US Marine convicted in the Subic Bay Rape Case must be handed back over to Philippine Authorities, providing the latest twist in a high-profile case that has dragged on for two and a half years. The US Embassy, which has maintained custody of Daniel Smith, has so far refused to obey the ruling.

While I would be the last person to argue that the justice system in the Philippines is fair, or that prisons there are fit for any human beings, no matter how reprehensible their crimes, I still find the United States’ refusal to hand him over to local authorities indefensable. The American Embassy has happily turned a blind eye to hundreds of political killings and thousands of cases of torture, illegal arrest and arbitrary imprisonment of activists, Islamists, communists and other “enemies of the Philippine state.” As long as the US continues backing the Arroyo government, it has zero moral authority to shield one of its citizens who has been tried and convicted in local courts.

Below is an old article of mine, updated and lightly rewritten to reflect current events:

On December 4, 2006, Philippine courts sentenced U.S. marine Daniel Smith to 40 years in prison for getting a young Filipina drunk, raping her inside a van, and tossing her half-naked onto the street. The guilty verdict was a dramatic victory for people seeking to hold American servicemen accountable for their crimes against civilian populations.

On December 29, 2006, the hopes raised by Smith’s conviction were shattered when the US Embassy removed him from Philippine custody.

Smith remains in the custody of the US Embassy in Manila while he appeals the verdict, causing widespread public outrage in the Philippines. The impulse to prevent Smith from languishing in an overcrowded, under-serviced prison while his case is resolved is understandable. But the “protect our boys” ethic that underlies it, which dictates that U.S. personnel abroad should invariably be shielded from local accountability, needs to be seriously reexamined.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Philippines, politics Tagged With: Daniel Smith, Impunity, Philippines, rape case, Subic Bay, VFA, War on Terror

To the Yankee

February 10, 2009 By Isabel Esterman 1 Comment

Guess where, and when, the following lines were written (in literal if not literary translation):

This unredeemed people
may perhaps succumb in the struggle,
but only its corpse
can be yoked by alien tyranny.

Yankee! If you defeat us
with the powerful weight of weapons,
you will not live happily, because you are hated
even by the air of my native land.

Yankee! If my verses
survive me, their words
will echo in the centuries to come
the eternal hate of the eternal outcast.

Is it Afghanistan in 2001? Iraq 2003?
Maybe Vietnam in 1965?

Try the Philippines, 1899 — America’s very first colonial adventure. (Probably not much of a surprise, actually, to anyone who pays any attention to what I normally post here.)

I’m sad to report that the US did not leave the Philippines until 1946 (and even then, not really), and that colonial officials did rather well for themselves. And I’m not sure Cecilio Apostol, the nationalist poet who wrote “Al Yankee,” would be comforted to know that his words do seem to have been echoed, again and again, for more than a century, as the march of U.S. imperialism spread across the globe. [Read more...]

Filed Under: academia, Philippines Tagged With: Al Yankee, Cecilio Apostol, colonialism, imperialism, Philippines, poetry, To the Yankee

Carcar, Cebu

January 29, 2009 By Isabel Esterman Leave a Comment

I’m not entirely certain what winding mental path led me to the rectory of St. Catherine’s Church in Carcar, Cebu. Some of it has to do with reading for a course on literature of social movements in the Philippines — it was to Carcar that the Visayan revolutionary Leon Kilat went seeking reinforcements for his stand against the Spanish army in Cebu city, only to be betrayed and murdered.

And I’m thinking, more generally, about where historical research and investigative journalism intersect and overlap. More on that later, perhaps. In the meantime, some photos from this summer:

Filed Under: academia, california, multimedia, Philippines, photography, Random Musings Tagged With: academia, Carcar, Cebu, history, Philippines, Photos

Juana Change

January 17, 2009 By Isabel Esterman Leave a Comment

I’ve been a bit out of the Philippines loop this past month, so I just now heard about Juana Change’s Youtube channel, which is making a huge splash in the Philippines right now (thanks Noah) — the Youtube view counts may not be all that high, but the videos have been replayed on major news networks.

The videos, four so far, are in heavy Taglish, and probably make no sense without translation and explanation of specific cultural references. (Someone should get on this, and it is NOT gonna be me, I already have WAY too much on my plate as it is). But trust me, they’re hilarious.

The video below, for example, tackles Charter Change, known as Cha-Cha — attempts by politicians to change the current constitution (which was put into place following the popular uprising that overthrew the dictator Ferdinand Marcos). Among other things, Cha-Cha might make it possible to extend much-reviled current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s term beyond 2010 (the current constitutional limit) and is widely viewed as a power grab by Arroyo and her political allies.

Juana Change takes on corruption, power grabs, brain drain, political assassinations and much more in just a few minutes, and calls on viewers to reengage with politics.

Even if you don’t get the language or the political context, I still think it’s a powerful example of how social media and satire can be used to send a political message to a wide audience.

Filed Under: california, multimedia, Philippines Tagged With: Arroyo, media, multimedia, Philippines, politics, Youtube

UN Human Rights Committee finds the Arroyo government guilty of human rights violations

November 24, 2008 By Isabel Esterman

More than two years after the families of two murdered human rights activists filed a complaint against the Philippine government, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled the Arroyo government is guilty of violating the activists’ right to life, and was negligent in providing remedy after they were killed.

Eden Marcellana, photo courtesy Karapatan

On April 21, 2003, human rights workers Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy were salvaged* under the watch of Arroyo’s pet General Jovito Palparan, well known in the Philippines as “The Butcher of Mindoro” because of the appalling number of activists murdered in areas under his command.

Despite eyewitnesses testimony that the two activists were kidnapped by former rebels now working with the military, the Department of Justice dismissed a complaint filed by the activists’ families. More than 5 years later, the case in the Philippines has not progressed. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Human Rights, Philippines, politics Tagged With: Arroyo, extrajudicial murder, Human Rights, Philippines, UN

Human bone found in Bataan Camp

October 15, 2008 By Isabel Esterman Leave a Comment

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

Human bone in Bataan camp
by Nikko Dizon
LIMAY, BATAAN—Braving rains, a fact-finding team Tuesday dug up a yellow rubber slipper, a laced shirt and burned fragments of what they suspected was a human bone in an area where a former detainee said he saw people being tortured by soldiers. [more]

and more

I don’t even know what to say. So I’ll quote UP Professor Roland Simbulan, from an interview I did in Summer 2007:

“There were human rights abuses before. Illegal arrests, torture, detention. But what is different now under Arroyo is the extent of killings of political activists. In fact, there’s an ugly joke going around that they don’t anymore have to feed them. Because during the Marcos time, and Ramos and other administrations, they would arrest an activist, or torture him at the most. But at least they were alive, they kept them in detention later to be released. But now, they’re not arresting them anymore. They just kill them. There’s not even a formal charge against them. They just abduct them, and perhaps they would try to extract as much information from them, and then they kill them. Some of their bodies or corpses are not even found. So that’s the difference, the gravity or the volume of people who are being killed. It’s very alarming.”

It’s not completely impossible this is some sort of elaborate hoax. Not completely.
And I’d very much like to think so, and that Karen Empeño and Manuel Merino are still safe and alive somewhere in the mountains.
But it doesn’t seem likely. By the most ridiculously conservative numbers, there have been at least 200 extrajudicial executions since Arroyo came to power. By the greatest estimate, over 1000. And I personally know multiple people who have been kidnapped by paramilitaries, taken to camps in isolated areas and subjected to brutal torture.
So there’s no real doubt in my mind that Manalo is telling the truth. I just hope that this time, this one time, some of the blood sticks on somebody’s hands.

Filed Under: Human Rights, Philippines Tagged With: Arroyo, extrajudicial murder, Human Rights, Philippines

Rice crisis revisited

October 8, 2008 By Isabel Esterman Leave a Comment

UPDATE: You can view a slideshow of the pictures below. But you’ll still have to actually visit the set to read the text.

Back in June, when I first started taking pictures of the rice crisis in Mindanao, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with them. Since, for the moment, the answer seems to have been “nothing” I thought I’d at least put them all up publicly (Some of the pictures, and most of the text haven’t been up before).
The full set is now up here
There’s quite a bit of explanatory text along with the photos. One of these days, I do still intend to put this all together, but for now time seems hard to come by.

Filed Under: Philippines, photography Tagged With: Davao, Philippines, rice

Portrait from Agdao Market

August 19, 2008 By Isabel Esterman Leave a Comment

This is a woman named Lita Midrano, who I spoke to this June, on the day rice prices broke 50 pesos per kilo in Mindanao. Midrano complained the subsidized rice provided by the National Food Authority for p18.50 a kilo was very poor quality, but she still waited in line for hours, because she couldn’t afford not to.

She was angry, and along with other mothers and grandmothers in line — women old enough to have lived through decades of war in Mindanao — she started talking, half joking and half serious about rioting and revolution. How high, I asked, would the price have to get?

“With rice a reaching 50 pesos per kilo, we’re already getting very angry,” she told me. “But before getting angry and starting a war, we have to eat. And so we wait in line.”

Filed Under: Philippines, photography, politics Tagged With: Davao, Philippines, rice

Monsoon Blues

August 1, 2008 By Isabel Esterman Leave a Comment

View from my roof yesterday

It can be very, very difficult to get anything done when leaving the house involves wading.

Filed Under: Philippines, photography, Random Musings Tagged With: Complaining about the weather, Philippines