I have just come back from the mission I told you about in last week’s Agyu Tamu Atbp article, and I am happy to report: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
In the first place, sa totoo lang, it was not an impossible mission, gaya nang nasabi ko na sa Agyu Tamu Atbp nitong nakaraang lingo. All that the members of the delegation that I headed needed to do (to get our US mission done) was to tell the truth —-walang paliguy-ligoy, walang pala-palabok, diretsahan lang—-about what the Arroyo administration has been doing in improving the social and economic life of our people and in addressing the human rights situation in the country.
At yan naman ay madaling gawin. Pagkat ako at ang mga kasama ko ay pawang actively involved at present in the planning and implementation of major and key infrastructure projects of the government that have direct great impact on social and economic issues, kaya may personal knowledge at diretsang kaalaman kami kung ano talaga ang tunay na ginawa na at ginagawa pa ng pamahalaan tungkol sa mga bagay na ito.
At tungkol naman sa mga bagay na may kinalaman sa human rights o mga karapatang pang-tao sa ating bansa, ako at ang aking mga kasama sa US Mission ay naunang tinaguriang mga “activista” during the martial law years who risked our lives at the forefront in the fight for freedom and human rights. I, myself, was a human rights lawyer who handled pro bono cases filed against our “activista” cabalens—winning all the 83 cases I handled—and saved from prison many who had been arrested by the military or the police during that dark period in our country’s history. CIAC EVP/COO Alex Cauguiran was hunted down by the military, and so, too, was OP External Affairs Office Usec. Danny de Austria Consumido because of their fiery commitment to the cause of freedom and human rights. Even now our commitment to this cause has remained strong and unwaivering. So, we know whereof we speak when it comes to matters of human rights, and we can speak about it with authority and conviction.
At yan na nga marahil ang dahilan kung bakit kami ang pinili ng Pangulo para sa US mission na maghatid sa ating mga kababayan sa US ng good news tungkol sa tunay na kalagayan ng ekonomiya at human rights sa ating bansa—upang, una, ay huwag silang mabagabag sa gitna ng global economic crisis at bagkus ay sumigla ang kanilang pagasa na ang ekonomiya ng ating bayan ay nananatiling matatag at malakas; at pangalawa, ang mga karapatang pang-tao ng bawat Pilipino ay patuloy na isinusulong at pinoprotektuhan ng pamahalaang Arroyo. At bilang patotoo, kami sa US mission na nagtaya ng aming buhay at dangal sa paglaban sa isang malupit at mapanikil na rehimeng martial law nuong panahon ng kadiliman ay narito ngayon na kakampi ng isang bagong rehimen na nagsusulong sa ating kalayaan at pumoprotekta sa mga karapatang pang-tao. Our life’s experience and our words speak for themselves.
Kaya simple lang ang aming ginawa sa pagtupad ng aming mission. Just tell the truth. Just tell the good news. Just tell it as simply and candidly as it should be told. And things will take care of themselves.
We have enough faith in the good sense of our kababayans in the US. We know that all they want is to be told the truth, the true facts, the correct picture; and if we are able to deliver to them what they expected, they will have a good basis to assess things by themselves and make a good judgment of the true social and economic situation obtaining here—and they will then have enough reason to keep hopes alive at magpatuloy sila sa pagsuporta sa mga programang pang-ekonomiya at pang-kabuhayan ng pamahalaang Arroyo.
At ganyan nga ang aming ginawa sa mga “good news” roadshows sa New York, Chicago, Los Angeles at sa San Francisco. It is in these US cities where there are large concentrations of Filipino-American communities, whose leaders in media (print and broadcast), business, civic, and various professions, attended our roadshows in great number and actively engaged us in a totally free, frank and bold discussion and exchange of ideas and information.
But it was all for the good. The issue has become clearer in the minds of our kababayans. The human rights situation has vastly improved in the past two years, with incidence of human rights violations having drastically decreased to only 8 in 2007 and to 5 in 2008, and with zero incidence being doggedly targeted this year. So much so that the Arroyo administration has earned brownie points from the United Nations and other international organizations involved in the promotion of human rights, including those in the US itself, who just recently gave our country a passing grade that made possible the inclusion of the Philippines in the Millenium Challenge.
And the overall result is, surely enough, as we expected: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. This can be seen from the news reports and commentaries that came out from the various newspaper publications that participated and covered the roadshow events (and it would be best to quote here what they themselves have said), as follows:
** Consul General Blesila C. Cabrera, from the Office of Consulate General of the Philippines in Chicago, USA, sent me a letter dated 10 March 2009 enclosing clippings of “news articles about your recent visit to Chicago published in the Philippine Weekly issue of 06 March 2009.”
** Published in the front page was the news story with the 3-column space headline: ROADSHOW ON PHILIPPINE PROGRESS”, and on the upper portion of the same front page appeared a 3-column-space colored photo of a “MEDIA CONFERENCE held at the Philippine Consulate General Monday March 2, 2009 attended by members of local media”, among others, “Romy Sager, associate editor and columnist of The Philippine Weekly; Veronica Leighton, publisher of the VIA Times and producer of Chicago Times and Producer of Chicago Philippine Reports TV; and Lita Mondridejos, columnist of Community Builder.” The inside page carried two 3-column colored photos showing the members of our delegation and a number of noted ;leaders of the Fil-Am community who attended the roadshow presentation.
(By the way, first, a few words about The Philippine Weekly: it is an influential newspaper of long-standing in Chicago that caters to the large Fil-Am community there, known for its independent and adversarial reporting of news and commentaries. The Weekly is a respected and serious local newspaper as shown by its regular 60 pages or more of weekly news coverage.
That The Philippine Weekly has frontpaged the roadshow event and published a large colored photo of the media conference at the upper portion of the front page would therefore show the great importance the leaders of the local media and the Fil-Am community have accorded to the roadshow event—a good indication of the positive impact the roadshows have made upon them and the great enthusiasm with which they they have received the Arroyo government’s on-going social and economic program for our people—now that they have had an earnest, honest, and frank debate and exchange of information and ideas about the true state of social and economic issues prevailing in our country today and how the Arroyo government is addressing those issues.)
In the first place, sa totoo lang, it was not an impossible mission, gaya nang nasabi ko na sa Agyu Tamu Atbp nitong nakaraang lingo. All that the members of the delegation that I headed needed to do (to get our US mission done) was to tell the truth —-walang paliguy-ligoy, walang pala-palabok, diretsahan lang—-about what the Arroyo administration has been doing in improving the social and economic life of our people and in addressing the human rights situation in the country.
At yan naman ay madaling gawin. Pagkat ako at ang mga kasama ko ay pawang actively involved at present in the planning and implementation of major and key infrastructure projects of the government that have direct great impact on social and economic issues, kaya may personal knowledge at diretsang kaalaman kami kung ano talaga ang tunay na ginawa na at ginagawa pa ng pamahalaan tungkol sa mga bagay na ito.
At tungkol naman sa mga bagay na may kinalaman sa human rights o mga karapatang pang-tao sa ating bansa, ako at ang aking mga kasama sa US Mission ay naunang tinaguriang mga “activista” during the martial law years who risked our lives at the forefront in the fight for freedom and human rights. I, myself, was a human rights lawyer who handled pro bono cases filed against our “activista” cabalens—winning all the 83 cases I handled—and saved from prison many who had been arrested by the military or the police during that dark period in our country’s history. CIAC EVP/COO Alex Cauguiran was hunted down by the military, and so, too, was OP External Affairs Office Usec. Danny de Austria Consumido because of their fiery commitment to the cause of freedom and human rights. Even now our commitment to this cause has remained strong and unwaivering. So, we know whereof we speak when it comes to matters of human rights, and we can speak about it with authority and conviction.
At yan na nga marahil ang dahilan kung bakit kami ang pinili ng Pangulo para sa US mission na maghatid sa ating mga kababayan sa US ng good news tungkol sa tunay na kalagayan ng ekonomiya at human rights sa ating bansa—upang, una, ay huwag silang mabagabag sa gitna ng global economic crisis at bagkus ay sumigla ang kanilang pagasa na ang ekonomiya ng ating bayan ay nananatiling matatag at malakas; at pangalawa, ang mga karapatang pang-tao ng bawat Pilipino ay patuloy na isinusulong at pinoprotektuhan ng pamahalaang Arroyo. At bilang patotoo, kami sa US mission na nagtaya ng aming buhay at dangal sa paglaban sa isang malupit at mapanikil na rehimeng martial law nuong panahon ng kadiliman ay narito ngayon na kakampi ng isang bagong rehimen na nagsusulong sa ating kalayaan at pumoprotekta sa mga karapatang pang-tao. Our life’s experience and our words speak for themselves.
Kaya simple lang ang aming ginawa sa pagtupad ng aming mission. Just tell the truth. Just tell the good news. Just tell it as simply and candidly as it should be told. And things will take care of themselves.
We have enough faith in the good sense of our kababayans in the US. We know that all they want is to be told the truth, the true facts, the correct picture; and if we are able to deliver to them what they expected, they will have a good basis to assess things by themselves and make a good judgment of the true social and economic situation obtaining here—and they will then have enough reason to keep hopes alive at magpatuloy sila sa pagsuporta sa mga programang pang-ekonomiya at pang-kabuhayan ng pamahalaang Arroyo.
At ganyan nga ang aming ginawa sa mga “good news” roadshows sa New York, Chicago, Los Angeles at sa San Francisco. It is in these US cities where there are large concentrations of Filipino-American communities, whose leaders in media (print and broadcast), business, civic, and various professions, attended our roadshows in great number and actively engaged us in a totally free, frank and bold discussion and exchange of ideas and information.
But it was all for the good. The issue has become clearer in the minds of our kababayans. The human rights situation has vastly improved in the past two years, with incidence of human rights violations having drastically decreased to only 8 in 2007 and to 5 in 2008, and with zero incidence being doggedly targeted this year. So much so that the Arroyo administration has earned brownie points from the United Nations and other international organizations involved in the promotion of human rights, including those in the US itself, who just recently gave our country a passing grade that made possible the inclusion of the Philippines in the Millenium Challenge.
And the overall result is, surely enough, as we expected: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. This can be seen from the news reports and commentaries that came out from the various newspaper publications that participated and covered the roadshow events (and it would be best to quote here what they themselves have said), as follows:
** Consul General Blesila C. Cabrera, from the Office of Consulate General of the Philippines in Chicago, USA, sent me a letter dated 10 March 2009 enclosing clippings of “news articles about your recent visit to Chicago published in the Philippine Weekly issue of 06 March 2009.”
** Published in the front page was the news story with the 3-column space headline: ROADSHOW ON PHILIPPINE PROGRESS”, and on the upper portion of the same front page appeared a 3-column-space colored photo of a “MEDIA CONFERENCE held at the Philippine Consulate General Monday March 2, 2009 attended by members of local media”, among others, “Romy Sager, associate editor and columnist of The Philippine Weekly; Veronica Leighton, publisher of the VIA Times and producer of Chicago Times and Producer of Chicago Philippine Reports TV; and Lita Mondridejos, columnist of Community Builder.” The inside page carried two 3-column colored photos showing the members of our delegation and a number of noted ;leaders of the Fil-Am community who attended the roadshow presentation.
(By the way, first, a few words about The Philippine Weekly: it is an influential newspaper of long-standing in Chicago that caters to the large Fil-Am community there, known for its independent and adversarial reporting of news and commentaries. The Weekly is a respected and serious local newspaper as shown by its regular 60 pages or more of weekly news coverage.
That The Philippine Weekly has frontpaged the roadshow event and published a large colored photo of the media conference at the upper portion of the front page would therefore show the great importance the leaders of the local media and the Fil-Am community have accorded to the roadshow event—a good indication of the positive impact the roadshows have made upon them and the great enthusiasm with which they they have received the Arroyo government’s on-going social and economic program for our people—now that they have had an earnest, honest, and frank debate and exchange of information and ideas about the true state of social and economic issues prevailing in our country today and how the Arroyo government is addressing those issues.)
