PSNA

Philippine Solidarity Network of Aotearoa
Home

Kapatiran

Links

Contact Us

Archive

Issue Number 25/26, December 2005

Kapatiran Issue No. 25/26, December 2005

RETURN TO THE PHILIPPINES
- Jenny Dawson

In September 2004 I was in the Philippines, returning after 14 years. It was shocking and disturbing and oddly comforting that not much seems to have changed – same pollution, same stories of human rights workers disappearing and bodies found weeks later, same grey polluted skies in Manila, same disillusionment with the President (albeit a different president), same traffic crawling along Edsa (the main arterial highway that runs through Metro Manila. Ed.), same incredible humour and political analysis amongst the local participants at the consultation I was attending. It was an Asian Ecumenical Women’s Consultation for the Decade to Overcome Violence, a gathering of women from throughout Asia hosted by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines.

In fact the situation is not just the same. As one of the Filipinas said, “Ten years ago, we were promised a tiger economy; now we are not even kittens.” We heard particularly about the current situation in on Mindoro Island, which has been militarised for several years as part of the regional security measure to protect the interest of big foreign companies. The people’s resistance against exploitation is getting stronger, especially since several brutal slayings in 2003. We were told about the massacres of Olivia and Roger Blanco and their children, and activists Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy.

Jenny Dawson, of Porirua, is a PSNA member and former committee member. She is an Anglican clergyperson.

Go to top