Why do Filpinos never forget Memorial Day?

Filipino Veterans. One reason Memorial Day is celebrated. 

Memorial Day isn’t just exclusively celebrated and given relevance in the United States. It certainly is being given importance in Southeast Asia, particularly, in the Philippines. With the numerous Filipino soldiers taking part in the allied forces with the “GI Joes” and making and leaving a great impact in the region, in the country in particular, Memorial Day is fondly remembered.

With the aid of the millions of Filipino war veterans, including my grandfather, American soldiers played a major role in liberating the country from the Japanese occupation during World War II. Quite different from the image other Asians are given to American troops, Filipinos welcome and consider them friends and allies. Though Memorial Day is commemorated in Southeast Asia, there is nothing like the way Filipinos look back to it, being directly a part of that sad event in the past.

The American Cemetery in Taguig.

As a proof of how much connection we Filipinos have with the Memorial Day, the American Cemetery in Taguig serves as the resting place of about 17, 000 American and allied military personnel who defended the Pacific in the war. It is one of the largest overseas cemeteries for US War Veterans second to Normandy American Cemetery in France, but is the largest in terms of the number of graves.  The dead and the missing are also honored here with the grand cemetery’s ground, marble hemicycles, and the chapel that houses the graves of the honored dead and the names of the missing.

The Philippines also served as the site of the infamous Bataan Death March. It is here where 75,000 defeated U.S. and allied servicemen were force-marched by their Japanese captors sixty miles across unforgiving terrain.

Filipino WW2 veterans salute during the flag ceremony.

WW2 Veteran holds the message of how different they are treated with those based in the US.  For years, many has been struggling to get what the American government has promised. 

The poignant words of soldier-poet Lt. Henry G. Lee echo back to us from those dark days when the Japanese held the Pacific and the Americans were on the run; his poem "Death March" tells of the horrors he saw along the way:

So you are dead. The easy words contain
No sense of loss, no sorrow, no despair.
Thus hunger, thirst, fatigue, combines to drain
All feeling from our hearts. The endless glare,
The brutal heat, anesthetize the mind.
I can not mourn you now. I lift my load,
The suffering column moves. I leave behind
Only another corpse, beside the road.

Lee did not see the end of the war - he died aboard a ship headed to Taiwan. His compatriots in the Pacific war are buried (or commemorated) in the largest American cemetery dedicated to the casualties of World War II, the Manila American Cemetery.

The luckier ones.  Filipino WW2 Veterans in the US.

To my grandfather who risked his life to defend this country, we love you! Though you are closer to The Creator, we want you to know how much we appreciate you. You took part in something to ensure the freedom of the Filipinos who succeeded your generation.  The Memorial Day isn’t exclusive to the US, there are many Filipinos who died and sacrificed so much during the war.  I hope we find some time to commemorate their heroic acts.

Education in the Philippines

A Term Paper 

by Paula Rica Agreda

Demonstrators express their views on an education rally in the streets of Manila.

Introduction:

            Everyone knows that Education is the source of our knowledge, which can lead us to success. It is one of the important things in one’s life. It helps a lot to the person who engaged or deals with it. It can be a pattern or way to success. It makes us more responsible person. More than just what we expected. There is a biggest thing which we should prioritized with education, to find a better a job which will give us plenty of money to sustain the need of our family and to give them the right virtue and availability of theirs must priority needs. It’s the process that will lead us to learn more new things in life.

            We have seen many young people in the street, in the society or in the community which some called as “TAMBAY”. Some them didn’t went up college or even high school degree of learning. Some of them are only influence by their friends or what we call “BARKADA”. There is what we call B.I. or Bad Influence sometimes. But sometimes they are good source that can help us lead to our goal in life. They really don’t know how to face the world with their own hand, for they don’t have enough knowledge or capability to do such thing. They only influenced people who are not the same with them but not all of those people who they influenced can be like them. Our government have been finding ways or solution to stop this thing which people made for their own life, even if they know that people could not follow the rules or the way that they made. We know that some Filipino’s are understandable, for they can’t be understood by the government.  Not all Filipino’s can really understand the situation that was facing for the education system of the country. There are people whom we say illiterate but they are not, for they are drop-outs only from school, for they don’t follow the school’s regulation, that’s why they punished from the school and they can’t back until they realized that they are wrong.

            Nowadays, Philippines experience lack of Education. It affects many people in every part of the country. This problem is one of the priorities of the government today. In which, government focuses the education as the main and basic source of knowledge and key to success. They implemented some rule of the law which can help people, but not all the rules are being applied. For this reason, that they are corrupt citizen who escape the budget which is given to DepEd or Department of Education to sustain the needs of the students in school but still there a lot of students that can’t be graduated in their school for they don’t have any explicit amount to do it. Students should able to understand things that were happening in the country, for they are the one who will sacrifice from this situation.

           

Prayer before everything else. Pupils of a rural public school began the day with a prayer.

Body:

I.                   Economic Crisis Development

            According to Ronald Meinardus on his article, the economic development of a nation is a function of the quality of its education. In other words: the more and better educated a people the greater the chances of economic development.

            Some Filipino person’s doesn’t know how education affects the economy of the country. On the other hand, most of them are illiterate person that didn’t go up to school. And others are drop-outs from their school. It’s because of their attitudes that cannot be understood by the faculty and staff of that institution. Young persons who are innocent on what they are doing and don’t know that their breaking the rule of law are the illiterate person. We can’t deny that Filipino’s are illiterate, that’s why we are facing an economy that was poor enough to sustain the needs of its people. We are now in the poverty life, were the Filipinos are poorer than the poor, as what other say.

            Tourists are people who made the Philippines economy more develop and progressive like what is it, right now. They are only the persons which can lead the country to its economic growth. If less tourists will went to the country to visit its native land, because if illiteracy of people, then, our country will failed to build structures that can be made the country progressive by the other country. When they are only few structures that can be made, few Filipino’s only will be given the chances to have works that can be needed and suit of them. They will suffer a lot for their own sake, for they don’t have been educated since then of their life. They don’t know to look at the reality for they can’t have their work, even they know the situation but still they don’t make some scenes to stop it. People that don’t get work must be suffering a lot, for their life. The income of the government will become lesser and lesser, for the reason that there are only few people that can have tax as they work and pay for it. And the economy will be endangered for its economic growth compare to other county.

            The economy can be sustained if there is no person who have a naughty hand and escape the budget money. We know how government handle it, but still the corrupt person are there staring and watching over them on what they are doing and where it is stored.

For Sale? Students demonstrate against what they call to be a commercially designed educational system.

II.                Poverty

            Most Filipino thinks that one of the effects of lack of education is poverty. Poverty is a term for the poor people in one’s country. It became the source of being poor of some person and also the reason for them to strive hard for life. However, there are still some persons that can’t control themselves or even balance their own life to do what it is right, to control the rate of poverty in the country.

            Philippines are one of the Asian countries which do have many poverty people. It was based on the news stated by the televisions. For this reason the people can’t go up to school, for they don’t have enough money to sustain their learning, to be educated. Most of them are just an “isang kahig, isang tuka” persons, who only have money for food but not for education, even a small amount, for they know that they will they die because of hungriness not because of lack of education. They are only thinking for their own life and they even don’t think about the economic issues on their native land. It’s true but it’s sad. For others that don’t know it, we have only few workers who stayed in the country to find job, but more workers outside of it that finding their jobs. Even we can say that we help the country government but still we suffer our family for they are afraid on what is your life abroad. They are the first person who worried for your own sake; even we say that it’s for the better only and for their everyday needs. We can’t lose our family. For us, Filipinos are sweet, loving and caring person. We are not contented on what we are right now, yet we still strive hard for we know that there still the best more than the better, if you only know the life.

            There are many person went abroad even if they don’t have a degree of learning, just to give the need of their family and to help them. Every now and then, OFW (Overseas Filipino Workers) increasing its rate. Many of them are just graduated from high school but went abroad no matter what happened to them. It has a lot people suffer from losing their relatives, for they don’t want them to be in danger. If they only have education exactly what is needed by them, then it’s the right reason to say for Filipino’s that they don’t need to go up abroad.

            All we know, wherever we go that education affect us and also it has many effect which will lead us to obtain and don’t be afraid but stand for it. We can handle it if we want it to be arranged in our life. It’s true that poverty is not a hindrance to success, if people only want it in your life and to strive hard.

Eyes of the child. Pupils in a typical public classroom in a poorer area of the country. 

III.             Street Children

            There are a lot of street children that roaming around in the country. It feels like that they are pitiful people but then after we gave them money they buy it for cigarettes. For this reason, we can say that we need education for the youth who are on the street begging for food. They are persons that we should focus enough for they have the chances of being educated person. They have been finding houses to be their home, but sad to say they can’t do it. For some people they are just an idiot kind of person. They don’t know to strive hard to survive, even if there are many opportunities, still they are the one that don’t be part of it, for they already have a down feeling. They don’t want to be guided by some persons, for they know that what they are doing is right, but for the reality, it’s wrong and they don’t know that there breaking the law of the government. That’s why they are arrested, if they stayed in a place that not for them. We can say that we want them to be guided but then we can’t.

            From Manila Bulletin, they are in the streets, in high-risk but low paying jobs. Wherever they are, or whatever they do, they are prone to all forms of human trafficking and exploitation.

            People who are prone to it are the people who even don’t know the test of the life or don’t know what they are doing. They just want it, for they need job but they don’t know on what they are involved in even if it’s good or bad for them. They don’t want that’s kind of life, still it came for they illiterate person. People only look them, as if they are not a human but an animal. For they can be a victim in only one blinked of an eye, for they don’t know what people do to them, they just follow it, for they only know that is for money and not for bad things. Some of them are only encouraged by their neighbourhoods to gain money for their family but they don’t know that a job they will going to, is not really a job but an illegal job which can lead their life to danger.

            Government can’t imagine that there are still many street children, even though they have department that handled this, it’s the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development). If the government can’t handle this, then many people suffer a lot without them knowing, for they are only just illiterate. They are been under estimating by some, for they don’t open there capacity as well-being. Some person’s only feel that they can’t be good, as if they do, but they can if they can be teach or influence in a good road way of life. If only people will want to teach them and to open their capability in facing the real meaning of life.

            People should know that there are many who needed by their capability, for even they are illiterate they can do more than what other can do, but still they can do it if they don’t have education.

            Professional is still doing things which can encourage people to study new things and explore their mind; even they are people in the street. They can be a prioritized citizen of the county, only if they do bad things more than good things, for we know that only bad person are seen by the government but not good makers.

Technological upgrade. A pupil taking advantage of the computer program for public schools. (Globe Telecom)

Conclusion:

            From Nicholian’s paper article, it is only through education that we can see life in different perspective which can lead us to a lot of opportunities to change our lives to the better.

            Right now, we can state that education is still the key to the success of person, without it we can’t be successful in life. We can only strive hard but still it’s not enough to do it. Most of us need it, just to tell the world that they are educated person that they are not illiterate. For others they used this as a weapon in any trials they encounter in their whole being.

            We are the only person that controls this situation of life, for we owned our own self and we are not control by other people. We are the one who care for our life and also we know to manage it, for we are in it. The person’s life is their control of obligation which they know to handle with care for it is the one who can make them at the top of the crowd.

            Open Your Eyes. Blinked as many as you can and remember to Love Education. To strive hard. Do anything just to develop you and be educated. Don’t be like other people don’t know about the world and face the struggles of life.

Bibliography:

            Gamolo, Nora O. “Basic Education Reform”. Manila Bulletin. July 29, 2007. 102.

  Santos, Emmanuel T., Ph. D. “Education & Economic dev’t”. Manila Bulletin. July 29, 2007. 11.

“Education: Changes Lives”. The Nicholians. March 2010. 2.

Pendon, Lydia C. “Education is best weapon against Climate Change”. The Daily Guardian. January 7, 2011. 2.

“Education is the best equalizer”. Manila Bulletin. January 27, 2011. 2.

Meinardus, Ronald. “The Crisis of Public Education in the Philippines”. www.fnf.org.ph. June 30, 2003. March 18, 2011.  www.fnf.org.ph/liberalopinion/crisis-public-education-philippines.htm



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Human Trafficking in the Philippines

A Term Paper by

Miraluna Montero

Human trafficking: Treating people like goods.

INTRODUCTION:

The Philippines right now is facing a problems, one of those is the human trafficking, Where we can hear in the radio, television, and we can read in the news papers. Some of the reason why people get victimized of human trafficking is because of poverty and lack of education. But sometimes some parents thought to sell their own child to earn money to finance or support the rest or their children. The victims of human trafficking are those innocent child, who can’t able to protect themselves from people that can able to abuse them by being forced to work even though they don’t afford to do. Especially teenage girls that been forced to work like prostitution and work heavily without salary. According to Mr. Arnel Ladate , the president of Iloilo SUMAPI org. (samahan at ugnayan ng mga manggagawan pantahana sa pilipinas} There’s a lot of victims of human trafficking mostly are those minor’s who just wanted to work to help their family. The rather work instead of studying, in their early age or those below 18 year of age because they feel ashamed to there situation as poor. Those children are usually a victims of illegal recruiter who offered to them such a good salary in manila or outside in our country or across the border. According to him one of their client victims of illegal recruiters, recovered at (PPA) half way house center operate with visayan forum foundation.


According to the victim, a recruiter said that they will work in the restaurant, since they was only 16 to 17 year old and still minors, the recruiter made their fake documents for them to work and also for them to reach the place where they work as restaurant workers. But when the reached the place they just realized that they already sold in the casa or a house of prostitution. And a lot more as what i heard and saw in the TV news before about some forms of human trafficking such as the street children who forced to be begged in the street, selling illegal drugs and sometimes they are victim of kidnapping and sold their parts of human organs such as kidneys etc. according to Visayans forum foundation their org. they joined civil society groups in celebrating "A Dayagainst Child Trafficking" on December 12, 2003 at Intramuros, Manila. The celebration's objective was to raise public awareness on the issue of child trafficking and mobilize public support for the prevention and suppression of the growing global menace. Visayan Forum December 17, 2003: Batangas Validation Workshop Batangas Parish Pastoral Center conducted focuses on Trafficking at the Batangas Port. The participants of the workshop included various partners of VF Batangas. Among them were government agencies, non-governmental organizations and members of the academe. The objectives of the workshop were to validate the results and findings of the research and to propose changes and give recommendations for future studies. November 18 to 19, 2003: National Training Seminar on Trafficking among Shipping CompaniesGrand Boulevard Hotel. The participants were members of various shipping companies based in Manila and other provinces. The objectives of the seminar were to raise the awareness of shipping companies on issues of trafficking, the urgency of the problem, and existing legal environment and initiatives to combat trafficking. More importantly, the training served as a venue for the formulation of mechanisms for effective, concerted, and coordinated actions in the fight against trafficking.

Behind the wire. A big crowd of human trafficking victims  look behind wire serving as their cell.

BODY:

The definition of Human Trafficking According to Anti- Trafficking in Person Act of 2003 (R.A. NO. 9208) An Act to Institute Policies to Eliminate Trafficking in Person especially Women and children. Trafficking of children is a form of Human Trafficking. It is defined as recruitment,selling or illegal transportation,transfer,harboring, or receiving of persons with or without the victims consent or knowledge of children, within or across national borders by means of threat or use of force for the purpose of exploitation,or other form of coercion,abduction,fraud,deception,abuse of power, or, the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to the consent of a person having control over other person for the purpose of exploitation of which includes at a minimum, are considered to be crimes of violence against children. the sexual exploitation,or prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation forced labor or services,slavery,servitude or the removal or sale of organs. They says that when the a child is a forced to work for the purpose of exploitation shall considered as a human trafficking or “trafficking in persons” even if it does not involve to above mentioned. According to this act, child refers to a person below eighteen (18) years of age or one who is over 18 but is unable to fully take care of or protect himself/herself from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of a physical or mental disability or condition and even street children who work heavily in the industry or selling drug, begging and sometimes victims of kidnapping to get parts of the children's organs also considered as a victim of human trafficking.


The reasons why people are vulnerable to human trafficking. It’s because of poverty and lack of economic opportunity to make women and children potential victims of traffickers association with international criminal organizations. They are vulnerable to false promises of job opportunities in other countries. Many of those who accept these offers from what appear to legitimate sources find themselves in situations where their documents are destroyed, themselves or their families threatened with harm, or they are bonded a debt that they have no chances to repaying.


While women and children are vulnerable to trafficking for the sex trade ,human trafficking is not limited to sexual exploitation. It also includes persons who are trafficked into “forced” marriage or into bonded labor markers, such as sweat shops,agricultural plantations, or domestic service. Traffickers clandestinely organize their transport operation via different ports and land routes in the Philippines. Interval trafficking is the springboard for international trafficking. Worldwide recruitment relies on intricate processes that start in far-flung communities. Traffickers operate in underground networks with strong connections to corruption public officials and transport operators. Every year, thousands of Filipino women and children are trapped through the cycle of trafficking into a life of slavery, sexual exploitation and human rights violations. According to (IPEC) international programme on the elimination of child labour, the child trafficking beyond the definition according of this act. The last decade of the twentieth century saw an unprecedented level of international concern over the trafficking of human beings, including broad recognition of the links between trafficking and the exploitation of children. Today, the trafficking of children is recognized as a distinct and egregious violation of children’s rights, and comprising one of the worst forms of child labour. People were first to as “traffickers” as early as the mid-sixteenth century, although at that time the label implied neither wrongdoing nor international or across-border movements. By the end of century trafficking had become disassociated from trading and used to sale illicit or disreputable goods.The first international treaty to address trafficking in human beings was the international agreement for the suppression of white slave Traffic (1904) in prostitution patterns, the feminist and gender debate, increased attention of human rights and also children rights. The available date of trafficking of women is not clearly dis-aggregated by age. For example, many reports that majority of coercion into prostitution are between 16 to 24 years of age according to UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (no.182) and they priorities the policy of programme interventions combat of trafficking of children in the age of 18. The same time, policy and inventions must make clear distinctions between the suppression of trafficking of adults and that of children. in the case of adults, the recognition of the rights to make informed decisions and choices, even if this includes the choice to remain in exploitative situations, will continue to be an issue of debate and has to be considered in programme inventions. In the case of children, the international consensus is to withdraw them from exploitation without delay. Trafficking form other types of activities, in fact, a combination of events that occur at places of origin, transit points destinations, involving potentially both legal and illegal acts.Exploitation, always illegal in international and national laws, may occur at any point in the chain of events that taken together, are recognized trafficking. It may occur example: it the child is misled with false reports or promises, coercion, or otherwise forcibly recruited or handed over the transporters. it may occur when the child is transforted: a child might be told s/he is going to a nearby a big city, only to be moved or a child or family might be charged an exorbitant fee in order to ensure the minimum debt bondage. Trafficking may be said to have taken place when the child is recruited as a dancer but forced into prostitution, or by the withholding of wages or their payment to a third party. It may take from the exploitative or/abusive conditions to which the child is subjected, including physical and mental abuse or confinement, inadequate or non-existent health care, poor Accommodation and hazardous work.

According to ILO work forms of child labour convention (no. 182) it’s specifies the forced labour or services, slavery, or practices is similar to slavery/o/ servitude. Example, when they provided the particular types and characteristics of child trafficking is generally hidden from the public view, so that most statistics are illustrative rather than accurate and existing data is scattered some regions. It is considered a new issue, when the result is not yet fully developed.

When children are relocated and extremely vulnerable, they are separated from their own environment and maybe isolated in illegal situations in unfamiliar places where they are threatened and unable to communicate or assert their rights, so even they are able to seek help, they may not know where to go find help, or how to ask for it.Root causes of child trafficking are occurs because there is a market for children in labour and in the sex trade, and most often from the poor families, who are easy prey for those who seek to make profit be exploiting their vulnerably. And also because of poverty and low level of education and work opportunities of a better life that’s why lots of people got trafficked.

According to manila Philippines- the department of social welfare and Development DSWD is discouraging street children’s from caroling and begging alms along major thoroughfares and roads, especially during the Christmas season, according to DSWD secretary Corazon Soliman , alternative activities will be offered to street children to prevent from caroling and begging. (DSWD) also said that the children and elderly women being on the street are often forced beggars-victims of human trafficking. They are a part of ring with organizational complexity comparable to that of a medium-size business enterprise, adds the another whose latest research is also based on observation of the operation of begging traffickers. Begging is an element of transnational nature and organize criminal group of familiar forced begging, for example, its difficult to prove as human trafficking when in the same point there is few legal cases are available in an area where the police and the courts should need to do better.

All alike: Victims, young and small crowd in this cell.

In just this year 2010 to 2011 worst forms of child trafficking happens. A month ago, i saw a picture of a dead child in (FB) who is a victims of kidnapping at Malabon City Philippines, and according to Blogphilippines, they spreading the information to keep us up and be aware and keep our children safe, they posted that picture about what happening around us, because sometimes we don’t know where can we be safe. Those news was also been talked about, and one of the topic of Mr. Ted Failon in his show that one kid was been killed by kidnappers and it was found dead and no more internal parts of organs. They are such a demons!

So in that news, adults should guard and take good care of their young ones to avoid being the next victims of those kidnappers. Kidnappers sold those internal parts of organs to hospital and earn huge of money from it.

To prevent to be a victim of human trafficking, we should aware of difference between legal and illegal recruitment. Some of the signs of illegal recruitment- allowing the job seeker to work even he/she is underage, rewriting of birth certificate, instructing to the laborer not to talk with other people when traveling and they pretend that they are reliable or kin and just to visit with other members of family. Knowledge to such problem is they key to avoid this problem. The crew or officers assigned in airport, pier, and other department of government-school DSWD, PNP and etc. must be aware of the said problem. The most effective way is to educate family in urban or rural area.


CONCLUSION:


Those reports that i took from different books including human trafficking are given me more knowledge together of what I know about human trafficking. and has attempted to bring us more awareness into trafficking of children, minors, or even adults that a victims of poverty and lock of education and learn from their experiences example of what has been happens to them and how ashamed to those victims especially children. It is clear that not only in the Philippines but worldwide has a human trafficking and its even getting worst. This work is just beginning if we don’t be aware . It’s important to continue to explore about this issue to make people aware to those mentioned problem and we should share information about this and learn lessons from those victims statements in order to protect ourselves from exploitation and from being abuse.



BIBLIOGRAPHY:


Santa Maria, A, S, Zantua.M.J. and Chiongson. R.A; international Trafficking in children for the worst forms of child labour, final report, C., (Manila ,ILO-IPEC.2001)

UNICEF and AusAID; commercial sexual exploitation of children in Philippines; situational Analysis, (Manila, 1998) Anti-Slavery International Trafficking, Ahuman Rights Approach in reporter, April 2001

Robidillo L,S; Child Trafficking and the children rights june 1994. DSWD moves to help begging street kids/manila bulletin news papers…December,2, 2010

http//blogphilippines.com/2011/03/about kidnapping of children in Malabon.html

Mr. Arnel Ladate, President of(Samahan at Ugnayan ng mga Manggagawang SUMAPI org, together with, Visayan Forum Foundation,

PPA, half way house center

http://www.visayanforum.org/misc/laws.html
www.visayanforum.org/misc/calendar_activities.html for more information.



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