Dream
by James Julian Castillo

I dream one day we will be free
Our potentials are as vast as the sea
The dream that I dream will be real
As real as the love that I have longed to feel.

Giants will try to stop us
From the inevitable transformation,
That the millions of flowers will bloom
And stop the impending doom.

Rise above from the chains
That keep up from leaving this room
Into the garden of war
That will eventually rock the wall
That pretends to be all powerful
But will one day crumble
As the rest have done
And we will live the dream
That millions like us have dreamt
And we will truly be humans in this world.

Sariwain ang Aral ng Welgang Bayan: Manindigan Laban sa Operasyon ng BNPP

Buwan ng Hunyo: tapos na ang dalawang buwang bakasyon ng mga mag-aaral at kabataan; Araw ng Kalayaan, mga karaniwang kaganapang iniuugnay sa ika-anim na buwan ng taon.

Para sa mamamayan ng Bataan,ito ang buwan pagpapakita pagkakaisa at paninindigan laban sa Plantang Nukleyar , dalawampu’t apat na taon ng nakalilipas.

Huwebes, Hunyo 20, 1985 animo’y ghost town ang buong Bataan - walang pasok sa eskwelahan at pabrika, walang tao sa bukid,walang sasakyan sa lansangan; abala ang mga maybahay sa pag-aayos ng pamatid-uhaw o kaya’y pantawid-gutom sa libo-libong nagmamartsa laban sa Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, ang tinaguriang Halimaw ng Morong. Ang mga barikada’t tangke ng mga Philippine Constabulary (PC) ay walang nagawa sa malakas na daluyong ng mamamayang nagkakaisa.

Makaraang bumagsak ang Diktaturyang Marcos, nagpasya ang pumalit na rehimeng Aquino na huwag nang pagganahin ang kontrobersyal na plantang nukleyar. Marahil nahintakutan sa naganap na pagsabog ng nuclear reactor #4 sa Chernobyl, Rusya. Tinatayang 65 milyong katao ang inabot ng kontaminasyon at mahigit sa 400,000 katao ang sapilitang inilikas sa mga lugar na nakapalibot sa Chernobyl.

Ngayon, habang ang mga komunidad natin ay nakaharap sa bantang panganib ng muling pagpapagana ng BNPP, hamon sa atin ang muling balikan ang tagumpay ng nakalipas na Welgang Bayan.

Sa totoo, naka-amba nang iratsada sa Kongreso ang HB 6300 (An Act Mandating the Immediate Rehabilitation, Commissioning and Commercial Operation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant or Bataan Nuclear Power Plant of 2009) sa muling pagbubukas ng Kongreso sa darating na Hulyo 27.

Ang mga pabor sa BNPP sa pangunguna ni Cong. Mark Cojuangco ay inuulit lamang ang mga baluktot na dahilan upang kumbinsihin ang taumbayan na muling pagkagastusan ng milyun-milyon ang planta sa Morong. Ito raw ay magdudulot ng pag-unlad at trabaho.
Pinakita na ng mga naunang pag-aaral sa BNPP na ang pagkakapwesto nito sa gilid ng Bulkang Natib at depektibong pagkakagawa ay mitsa ng kamatayan para sa mga karatig na komunidad at probinsya.

Dahil sa ibinubuga nitong radiation, tumataas ang posibilidad ng pagkakasakit ng kanser at leukemia. Kung magka-nuclear meltdown naman, pulbos ang 50 kilometer radius, habang kontaminado na ang kabuuang isla ng Luzon at ilang bahagi ng Visayas.

Sa totoo, ang pagpapagana ng isang plantang nukleyar ay napakagastos – milyong piso para maipatayo, milyong piso para mag-angkat ng panggatong na uranium, milyon din para sa pagdispatsa ng basura o nuclear wastes.

At pagkatapos ng takdang buhay ng isang planta nukleyar, panibagong gastos na naman ang pagpapasara o de-commissioning! Aba! Sa hirap ng buhay ngayon, marami pang mas magandang pagkagastusan kaysa sa mapanganib na BNPP!

Buhay at kapakanan natin ang nakataya sa usaping ito. Kung kayo’y kumbinsido at desididong labanan ang BNPP, aksyon ang kailangan!

Kausapin ang mga kapamilya at kababayan, kunin ang suporta ng mga taong-simbahan at lokal na opisyal upang mas maraming tao ang makaalam at makialam sa muling pagbubukas ng planta nukleyar. Magtayo ng samahan laban sa planta nukleyar tulad ng Nuclear Free Bataan Movement Network o NFBM-NET.

Sumama sa darating na Hunyo 20 patungo ng Balanga, Bataan at sa iba pang pagkilos ukol sa BNPP. Kailangan ka ng laban na ito.

June 15 Start of Church Bell tolling 4pm Bataan-wide
Morong Torch Parade and Noise Barrage Morong Town Plaza
June 16 Abucay Torch Parade and Noise Barrage Abucay Town Plaza
June 17 Fluvial Parade/Program 1pm Balanga Town Plaza
June 18 Anti-BNPP Forum in the Town of Limay with Torch Parade Limay Town Plaza
June 19 Dinalupihan Torch Parade and Noise Barrage Dinalupihan Town Plaza
June 20 Salakbayan Laban sa Planta Nukleyar

( Commemorating 1985 Welgang Bayan) 1pm Salubong Bgy. Tuyo
4pm Program Balanga Town Plaza

*Log on nfbmnet.multiply.com para sa karagdagang impormasyon. Ipasa ito sa iba pagkatapos basahin.

On the Philippine Independence Day: From a Filipino Youth's Perspective

A Letter to the Struggling Filipino Youth

Out here in the semi-dessert semi-paradise
I’ve been thinking about my fellow youth
Fresh from campus and a new surprise.

Suddenly we had to be men and women
In the crossroads of the need to survive
And the youthful nature to be alive.

Brings to mind a quote and a name
“Everyday seems to be the same”
But Andres Bonifacio does not agree
He said we had to stand up and see
Life as it is and that we are not truely free.

He was a youthful leader by example
His thoughts and actions were simple
Let us be free men for men are free
Men and women are the same
Let us join our hearts and minds
And together let us struggle to be truely free!


James Julian Castillo

Summary on the Using of Folktales in Community Organizing: by James Julian Castillo

Ang Pag-gamit ng Kwentong Bayan sa Pag-oorganisa sa Komunidad
By James Julian Castillo

Magkaugnay ang kwentong bayan at pag-oorganisa sa komunidad. Ang kwentong bayan ay tungkol sa mga karanasan ng karaniwang tao at ang pag-oorganisa naman ay tungkol sa hangarin na mapa-unlad ang buhay nila.

Merong pagkakaiba ang pag-oorganisa sa Pilipinas at US at isa dito ang pagkakaugnay ng mga organisasyon sa ibat-ibang sektor. Sa Pilipinas malapit ang kanilang mga pag-kilos, dito sa US parang walang conection. Pero, ang dalawang bansa ay may kasaysayan sa kilusan para sa kalayaan.

Sa Pilipinas, madalas ginagamit ang kwentong bayan sa pag-oorganisa. Halos lahat ng mga hakbang ay merong kasabay na kulturang pagtatanghal. Ang itinatanghal ay hindi lang kung kahit anong kwento kundi kwentong bayang ang kinakanta, isinusulat, isinasadula at pinipinta.

Taon-taon, ang Sining Dilaab, isang grupong pangkultura at ang VMPRDC (Visayas Mindanao People’s Resource Development Center) na isang NGO, ay nag oorganisa ng isang camp para sa kabataan para malapit sila sa mga isyu sa lipunan at mabigyan sila nga mga workshop sa ibat-ibang sining na magamit nila sa pagtatanghal ng mga kwentong bayan. Mayroong dance, songwriting at theatre workshop. Meron ding workshop sa leadership at journalism.

Ang malungkot na kwento ay ang mga pangyayari sa Pilipinas. Taon taon maraming kabataan ang gumagraduate pero halos lahat sila ay napupunta sa call center kahit meron silang mga degree na pang propesyunal. Dito sa US marami din ang naghihirap. Halimbawa nito ay ang article sa LA Weekly na nag frontpage ang isang Pilipina ang nakakadena sa isang matanda. Ang sweldo ng Pilipina na ito na nag caregiver sa Long Beach ay 42 cents lang kada oras.

Kailangan natin magkaisa sa mga pagkilos sa Pilipinas dahil magkaugnay ang buhay natin dito sa buhay doon. Sila rin sa Pilipinas ay kailangan magkaisa sa pagkilos natin dito. Nasa pagkakaisa lang nating lahat matikman ang tunay na bunga ng demokrasya.

-Para sa video ng talk isearch lang ninyo ang (using folktale in community organizing) sa youtube. Ang link sa channel kung saan na upload ang video ay www.youtube.com/user/onlinenppcforum
------------------------------------------English translation------------------------
Using Folk Tales in Community Organizing

Folk tales ang community organizing are inter-related. Folk tales are about the experiences of ordinary folks while community organizing is about the aspiration of making their lives better.

There is a difference in organizing in the Philippines and the US and one of them is the way the different organizations in the different sectors connect. But, the two countries have a history in the movement for freedom.

In the Philippines, folk tales are often used in organizing. Almost all efforts have a portion of cultural presentations. The presentations are not just any kind of story but folk tales that are sung, written, dramatized on a play and painted.

Every year, Sining Dilaab (Arts Ablazing), a cultural group and VMPRDC (Visayas Mindanao People’s Resource Development Center) that is an NGO, organize a youth camp that aims to bring the youth closer to societal issues and provide workshops in the different fields of arts where they can use to present folk tales. There is a dance, songwriting and theatre workshop. There is also a leadership workshop and journalism.

A sad story are the happenings in the Philippines. Every year a lot of the youth graduate but almost all end up in call centers even though they carry professional degrees. Here in the US many are also having a hard time.An example is the article from LA Weekly where a Filipinas who was chained to an elderly man was on the front page. The hourly wag for the Filipina caregiver in Long Beach was 42 cents an hour.

We need to be in solidarity with the movements in the Philippines because our lives are connected with their lives. They, in turn, also have to be in solidarity with our movements here. Only in the unity of all of us can we taste the fruits of democracy.

-To watch the video of the talk just search (using folktale in community organizing) in youtube. The link to the channel where the video was uplaoded is www.youtube.com/user/onlinenppcforum

A Statement on the Charter Change-Constituent Assembly

Frustrate GMA’s maneuvers to extend her rule!

The House of Representatives did it again. This bastion of reaction in Philippine politics again displayed their capability for brazen, shameless railroading of decisions once commanded by those who control the public coffers.

Last Monday, June 1, the Lakas-Kampi majority coalition in the House decided to give precedence to floor debate on House Resolution 1109, a resolution calling on Congress, acting as one or jointly, to constitute itself into a constituent assembly (con-ass) for the purpose of proposing amendments to the 1987 Philippine Constitution. With such decision, they immediately set aside discussions on two other urgent issues before the House – the bill on the right of reply, which mandates media outlets and practitioners to ensure the reply of public officials on issues concerning them or face prosecution, a clear suppression of the press freedom, and the long-demanded agrarian reform, which the Congress has by-passed in the past sessions.

The idea of Congress acting as one (with each legislator having equal voting weight) has long been toyed in the House in the face of the continuous refusal of the Senate to approve the Con-Ass path to charter change. It is the desperate maneuver by a House dominated by GMA-paid hacks to skirt the bicameral character of the present legislature. Worse, the proponents of the Resolution, and their nit-wit, ‘pork barrel’-powered allies in the House, obviously hope to pass off the House decision on the Resolution, under their rules to be decided in only by a simple majority (136 votes), to be a Congress decision. After all, they cannot hope for a similar resolution to be processed by the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments, much more be deliberated in the Senate floor.

House Resolution 1109, then authored and sponsored by Congressman and Kampi president Luis Villafuerte (he now claims it was Nograles’ idea and he just wrote it), was submitted for deliberation to the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments as early as the resumption of the Congressional sessions last April 13. Presidential son Mikey Arroyo actively sought Lakas-Kampi representatives’ signatures for the Resolution. For weeks, the House Committee could not agree on what to do with the Resolution. At one point, Villafuerte himself withdrew, and the Committee decided to drop the resolution. But a signal from Malacanang gave the ruling majority in the committee renewed enthusiasm, and they resurrected and endorsed it for floor deliberation. The hasty Lakas-Kampi merger last Thursday May 28, presided over by GMA and pursued despite the absence of some Lakas and Kampi stalwarts, gave the final marching orders to Lakas-Kampi House representatives to fast-track the passage of the resolution before Congress goes on recess. Rumors circulated that millions of pesos changed hands to ensure passage, even as the crucial CDF, better known as ‘pork barrel’, for the last fiscal year for this Congress, will also be at stake for those who dare oppose it.

True to form, those in the ruling Lakas-Kampi majority acted in indecent haste. They decided by nearly noon Monday, June 1, to give the resolution utmost priority, and when confronted with the technical flaw of absence of committee approval - a condition that bars floor deliberation on it - the House Committee hastily met, and in a few hours approved (!) what they could not decide upon in the past month. They sent back the approved HR 1109 to the House, where the rest of the Lakas-Kampi members (211) railroaded its passage last night (June 2). The monster in Malacanang got the approval she sought; at what price, anybody can now guess.

Filipinos can dismiss all these recent maneuverings with exasperation over what the Philippine legislature, specifically the House of Representatives, has reduced itself to – an idiotic, uncritical, undemocratic, shameless mob of people who kowtow to the dictates of those who control the people’s funds, i.e. Malacanang, from whom they get the funds to fuel their own political ambitions. Indeed, a despicable mob! After-all, Malacanang apologists Gabriel Claudio and Reynaldo Puno and even administration allies in the Senate, among them Juan Ponce Enrile, have been quick to dispel people’s suspicion over such moves with ‘assurances’ that nothing will come out of it; at least nothing to offset the scheduled May 10 general elections.

Yet, the question should be asked: if nothing is expected to come out of it, then why did GMA, her sons and her allies, go out of their way to wring out that decision?
To venture an answer, one must view the administration coalition’s, specifically GMA’s, obsession with cha-cha, in its proper perspective.

First, the main force behind the maneuver is definitely GMA; this indubitable fact every Filipino knows. Second, GMA faces a string of unresolved cases – electoral cheating (the Hello Garci tapes, the “I am sorry” performance, and murders of election officials); the fertilizer scam, the Diosdado Macapagal highway scam, the ZTE-NBN scam (and subsequent kidnapping of Lozada, and recent assassination attempt on a vital witness), the extra-judicial killings, and a lot of several others – unresolved because presentation of evidences could not even proceed under the tyranny of the majority in the House. Third, the end of GMA’s illegal (at it resulted from a fraudulent election) term in May 2010 will make her no longer immune to suits stemming from all the unresolved cases. Her only recourse to protect herself is to be able to maintain herself in power, while promoting imperialist’ interests as well.

One way is via a constitutional amendment that will make possible her getting past the current constitutional prohibition or ban on her further holding the most powerful position in the land. It can be via a change in the form of government, where she can be the Prime Minister therefore head of government, or President, thus, head of State.

Can such a move be done before an election under the 1987 Constitution? Yes, if the Comelec fails to prepare for the May elections and the election is postponed, an idea Comelec Chairman Jose Melo himself presented as their nightmare; if the Supreme Court, now dominated by GMA appointees, upholds the intent of House Resolution 1109; if a “Joint Congress or Congress acting as one” railroads amendments, and “Congress” comes up with supplementary appropriation for a railroaded plebiscite. But all these possible only if GMA appointees, now dominant in the Comelec and the Supreme Court, act according to her desire (or command?), be it in flagrant violation of the people’s expressed sentiment and will (which has consistently been anti-GMA) and of the spirit of the 1987 Constitution.

Can such a new form of government be put in place after the May general elections? Obviously, the GMA camp is working out that alternative. In fact, her National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, in a slip of his tongue, revealed that alternative scheme when he said “the next president will only be a transition president”, seemingly so sure that a new government, under a new form, most likely headed again by GMA, will be put in place even after the May elections. A Lakas-Kampi dominated legislature after election to constitute itself as Constituent Assembly immediately after election and put in-place a new form of government? It seems to be what Norberto Gonzales had in mind. Could that be the reason for GMA’s obvious wooing of the second district of Pampanga – for her to be its first MP under the parliamentary form of government?

Or could the recent maneuvers be calculated moves to create a calculated disorder – a convenient excuse for a declaration of a state of emergency? It cannot be ruled out. After all, if one monitors GMA’s unusual moves on AFP promotions, one cannot miss the fact that she is putting her most loyal generals in positions of power, by-passing other generals who by the current political system’s own measure should not have been by-passed. A coup from the center is still possible.

Simultaneously, GMA is keeping US monopoly-capitalism, the most dominant force in Philippine politics, at bay by promoting its interests as well, as is contained in the other amendments she is promoting, among them the liberalization in foreign ownership over land, mineral resources and the media, contained in HB 767.

GMA’s maneuver is most probably premised on the assumption that the masses of ordinary Filipinos would not actively intervene in politics; that they are so exasperated over elite squabble for power, so preoccupied with eking out a living amidst the current crisis, so reduced to inaction by their resignation to their own powerlessness. She probably thinks she can get away with her moves, for as long as she controls institutions of power and her elite rivals can only shout in disgust. So she can cheat, rob, misuse and disabuse the public coffers, suppress civil liberties and violate rights and processes with impunity, because others are helpless.

GMA and her likes may yet be in for a surprise. When people are made to bear the burden of an economic crisis exacerbated by government programs and policies while those in power squander urgently-needed funds in incessant political maneuvers; when their just claims to economic and political rights fall on deaf ears and their struggles are met with water hoses, tear gas and batons, when the hunger pangs gnaw amidst the flaunting of illegally acquired wealth, when disrespect becomes so blatant and insulting, the people may yet decide to take the matters in their own hands, awaken to their strength and assert what is rightfully theirs – their sovereignty. May that awakening be now, before more children are wasted, more women are prostituted, more patriots are killed!

Frustrate GMA’s maneuvers to extend her rule!
Assert the people’s democratic rights in the midst of crisis!
Power to the people!

3 June 2009