The Straits Times Blogs - Alastair Mcindoe

Insidious use of technology

2009-06-03T07:16:00Z

Alastair McIndoe looks at a steamy sex scandal engrossing the Philippines.

IN MANILA

POLITICS in the Philippines sometimes resembles the television soap operas that Filipinos love to watch.

And a Senate inquiry into a torrid sex-video scandal involving a handsome celebrity doctor and a young actress had plenty of moments of high drama when the hearing was broadcast live on television late last week.

Lawmakers and concerned groups hope it will spur Congress to strengthen legislation against pornography and on the exploitation of women and children.

Bills to do this are already in the pipeline, though moving slowly.

The fuss is over videos that cosmetic surgeon Dr Hayden Kho’s took of his sizzling trysts with 23-year-old starlet Katrina Halili. These surfaced on the Internet and were then produced as DVDs, selling for 50 pesos (S$1.50) each in street markets.

Local media interest in the case has been insatiable, with coverage at times eclipsing news on the economic crisis and the spread of swine-flu.

Dr Kho, 29, has admitted video-taping lovemaking sessions with Ms Halili and several other women, but says that he doesn't know how they ended up on the Internet.

The steamy episode came to light after actor-turned-politician Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla made a speech denouncing Dr Kho in the Upper House on May 19.

The following day another senator filed a proposed Anti-Video Voyeurism Act that would make it illegal to film intimate acts without the partner's consent.

Commenting on the case this week, Philippine Interior Secretary Ronald Puno told foreign correspondents in Manila: "It is being sensationalised, but it is also calling attention to the insidious effects of misusing technology."

He makes a good point: The spread of cybersex dens using minors, for one, is being viewed with rising concern by the authorities here.

Father Shay Cullen, an Irish missionary who has spent over 20 years in the Philippines trying to save children from the sex industry, told me that the scandal underscored the need for Congress to pass pending legislation clamping down harder on child pornography by making its possession a criminal offence. I was surprised that it wasn't already.

The Philippine Star said in an editorial: "With the scandal over Hayden Kho's sex video, perhaps lawmakers will speed up action on those bills."

Despite its serious intent, parts of the Senate hearing were pure armchair melodrama.

With his designer stubble, the trendily dressed Dr Kho looked like he had just come from a casting session for the TV drama Nip/Tuck.

One onlooker angrily emptied a bottle of water over his head.

"Everytime we saw each other, there was no conversation," Dr Kho told the Senate."It was all drugs and sex."

He claimed that his former patient and now ex-lover introduced him to Ecstasy pills — an allegation strongly denied by a tearful Ms Halili.

"I am the victim here while our video is being viewed on a daily basis," she said.

For me, she had guts for publicly filing a complaint with authorities against Dr Kho. Many others in her situation would have probably kept a low profile.

SOS by SMS

2009-05-19T06:41:00Z

Alastair McIndoe looks at a helpline for distressed Filipino workers overseas.

IN MANILA

WHEN the Saudi employer of a Filipina domestic helper refused to let her return home after her contract was finished, friends sent a single text message that simultaneously alerted authorities in the Philippines and agencies helping migrant workers in distress in the desert kingdom.

It was received by a mobile phone linked to a computer server in the Manila appartment of IT expert Bobby Soriano. The server, bought from a junk shop, immediately routed the text message to the groups that may be able to help her.

"When the SMS (short message service) is sent the system sends back an automatic reply that it has been received and that somebody will call them," said Mr Soriano, who helped developed the system for the Centre for Migrant Advocacy, a local NGO.

Between six and 10 SOS SMS' a day are received a day, said Mr Soriano. Over half are from Saudi Arabia, where 1.4 million Filipinos work, mostly on short-term contracts.

It should be better known. The simple but effective system, for one, is particularly suited to this nation of avid texters.

SMS traffic in the Philippines is one of the heaviest in the world, reportedly exceeding voice calls by 10 to 1.

And practically all Filipino overseas workers own a mobile phone.

Many of the texts for help are from Filipinos complaining that their wages have not been paid or that they are working in dire conditions, said Mr Soriano.

Others, mainly domestic helpers, want rescuing from physical and sexual abusive at the hands of their employers. There have even been messages from seafarers stranded in far-off ports and Filipinos fleeing war zones.

The beauty of SOS SMS' is that they are directly routed to the Philippine government's welfare agency for overseas workers and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

In the case of the domestic helper in Saudi Arabia, Philippine embassy officials there went to her employer's home in the northern city of Gurayat and took her into their care.

"I had a contract for two years but I stayed for four and received no salary for the last 18 months," said the 26-year-old, whose first name is Rubelyn. She was flown home and is now back with her family in the southern port city of Davao.

Ninety-six Filipinos working in a glass-making factory near the Polish city of Lodz sent an SOS SMS on April 9. Like many, it started with a touchingly polite greeting: "Gud pm Sr/Mam we want to seek your help..."

They complained that they were not paid the agreed salary and that working conditions were bad. Some reportedly stayed in a church and relied on food donations after being fired. Philippine officials flew to Poland to organise their repatriation and the first batch of 49 arrived back home on May 7.

Some 2,00 Filipinos overseas workers in distress were repatriated in 2008.

The cost of an SMS SOS is around a peso - about 3 Singapore cents - using a local phone plan with a roaming facility, which most Filipinos working overseas use.

The SOS SMS number is:+63 920 9639 767.

Unbecoming of a boxing idol

2009-05-10T06:38:00Z

Alastair McIndoe looks at the controversy Pacquiao created when he ignored a flu advice.

In Manila

PHILIPPINE boxing idol Manny Pacquiao rarely puts a foot wrong in the ring.

But his decision to ignore an appeal from the World Health Organisation (WHO) to postpone his return to the Philippines - and that of his entourage - after winning a title fight in Las Vagas was a poor one for this popular figure who plans a career in politics.

The WHO and the health authorities here asked Mr Pacquiao to delay for a week his homecoming and victory parade as a precaution against the spread of the H1N1 virus.

Given his idol status among Filipinos, heeding that call would surely have been a big help in promoting public awareness over the bug.

At the very least, it was hoped Mr Pacquiao would make a point of practicing "social distancing" for a few days after his return to the Philippines.

Mr Pacquiao and his entourage arrived as planned at Manila's international airport last Friday. The boxer greeted his three kids with hugs and kisses and then waded through a media scrum. After a stop-off at a hotel, the group headed for the packed Quiapo Church to hear a thanksgiving service for his May 2 victory against Britain's Ricky Hatton.
Next stop: Manila's largest shopping mall to attend a concert.

"Irresponsible" ran the headline over an editorial sharply criticising Mr Pacquiao's behaviour in Saturday's Philippine Daily Inquirer.

"He could have shown the kind of civic spirit, cooperation and respect for authorities that are most needed in times of emergency. Instead, he chose to demonstrate an appalling incapacity to sacrifice for the common good," said the newspaper.

The argument that the 30-year-old boxer did not want to disappoint his fans by skipping public appearances hardly cuts it during a health scare.

There have been no cases so far of the H1N1 virus in the Philippines. But 12 people entering the country showing flu symptoms have been quarantined since May 1.

Mr Pacquiao has said that staying longer in the United States could have put him and his team more at risk from catching the virus.

Around 50 congressmen - about one if five members of the House of Representatives - flew to Las Vegas to watch the Pacquiao-Hatton bout.

The Philippine health authorities made a point of publicly insisting that the returning lawmakers get no special privileges at the airport, and be subject to the same thermal scanning and health declarations as ordinary folk.

When President Gloria Arroyo returned from an overseas visit last week, she got off the plane holding a yellow health-declaration form.

None of this, of course, diminishes Mr Pacquiao's reputation as one of the world's finest boxers of his generation.
But the boxer is already readying a new career. Last week, his People's Champ Movement was accredited as a political party. And he is widely expected to run for elected office in a local or national post in the mid-2010 elections.

Instead of acting like a people's champ and setting a good example, Mr Pacquiao on this occassion behaved more like this country's powerful elites used to getting their way.

Getting on the culinary map

2009-04-13T06:58:00Z

Alastair McIndoe looks at efforts to get Philippine cuisine better known.

IN MANILA

THAT Philippine cuisine is not better known internationally has long been the subject of a hand-wringing debate among food writers here.

This country has after all one of the world's oldest fusion cuisines. Its culinary influences reflect (though not all on one plate) a colonial past — three centuries under Spain, 50 years under America — ethnic Malay roots and pre-colonial trade ties to China.

Those tangled connections certainly make Philippine cuisine harder to pigeon-hole than — say — Thai or Japanese food.

If I had to pick the most pleasing characteristic of Filipino food, it would be the tangyness of some dishes that use vinegar and other tart ingredients as the flavour base.

But low tourist inflows compared to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have certainly prevented Filipino culinary classics from becoming better known abroad.

Until a few years ago, visitors to Manila had a hard time finding top-end restaurants serving Philippine cuisine. The recipe books were also nothing to shout about; most in the shops look as if they were written in the 1970s judging by the photographs.

Now the good news: a glossy and very reasonably priced recipe book has been flying off the shelves here, going into its fouth re-print in just six months, and creating a much-needed buzz about the local gastronomy.

Kulinarya: A Guidebook to Philippine Cuisine, written by six prominent Filipino chefs, is part of a project of the Asia Society and others that aim to get Philippine cuisine better known internationally and improve its appreciation at home. It also has a website: www.kulinarya.net

Reading Kulinarya's recipes — a mix of traditional and regional favourites — a few days ago got me thinking about what should be the country's national dish.

This is generally considered to be adobo: meat or poultry marinaded in vinegar. But since it was introduced centuries ago by the Spanish, perhaps a dish without the colonial baggage would be more appropriate.

Some say sinigang — a light, tamarind-based fish or meat/poultry clear soup mixed with vegetables — should be the culinary flag carrier. But there's a similar dish in Malaysia called singgang.

My vote goes to kinilaw, a cold-served, vinegar-cured fish-dish that's perfect for the tropical climate. It's foremost among my memorable meals, first tasted in an open-air seafood restaurant overlooking Manila Bay on a visit to the Philippines in 1996.

Here's a recipe for this really easy-to-make dish:

Ingredients (serves four as a starter):
- 500 grams washed mackerel filets cut into 2-cm cubes.
- 250 ml vinegar (preferably white palm vinegar, if unavailable use clear vinegar)
- 2 medium-sized red onions, well but not finely chopped
- 1 large red bell pepper, cut into thin slices
- 2 tablespoons of crushed fresh ginger
- 3-4 pcs small red chillies, chopped
- half a cucumber, peeled and diced
Gently mix the ingredients in a glass or ceramic bowl and refrigerate for 2-3 hours (important: make sure the fish is bleached white - ie. "cooked" by the acid in the vinegar). Add ground black pepper on serving.

A look into Jalosjos' inprisonment

2009-03-23T05:44:00Z

Alastair McIndoe explores the luxe imprisonment of the former politician.

IN MANILA

INMATES and guards at the national penitentiary in Metro Manila will sorely miss Romeo Jalosjos. The burly former congressman, convicted of raping an 11-year-old girl, was released late last week after serving 13 years of a double life sentence.

As prisoner N98P-0748, Jalosjos used his wealth and influence - he comes from a powerful political family in the southern Philippines - to live a privileged VIP lifestyle and improve conditions in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP). Around 12,000 prisoners are held in sprawling NBP, parts of it look more like a barrio than a correctional facility.

Jalosjos, 69, built a tennis court for the prison (presumably getting first dibs on the court), as well as other structures, including his private quarters. He opened a bakery and coffee shop, had walkways paved and built a mini-park.

That largesse, as the Philippine Daily Inquirer suggested in a recent editorial, "fundamentally served to provide for his own convenience".

For ordinary Filipinos, Jalosjos' five-star life behind bars was a glaring example of the chasm here between extreme wealth and poverty; his good deeds inside just another form of patronage from a member of the political elite.

SOURCE: AFP

A cash-strapped prison system made it possible for Jalosjos and a sprinkling of other well-heeled inmates to spend their money to make life easier.

A friend of mine visited NBP earlier this year as a guest of his Lamb of God Foundation. He was shown Jalosjos' three-room bungalow right next to the tennis court. In a spacious, well-furnished living room was a large-screen TV with cable service.

On his release, Jalosjos held a news conference in the arcadian grounds of a luxury resort and wellness centre that he had built next to the prison.

It reminded me of the Colombian drug lord who was famously allowed to build his own mansion in the prison grounds while serving his sentence.

And what a contrast to the cell, described as the size of a walk-in closet, that awaited billionaire Wall Street swindler Bernie Madoff in after a judge in New York revoked his bail earlier this month.

Scandalised lawmakers and advocacy groups periodically protested over Jalosjos' pampered conditions, drawing pledges from officials to have him treated like an ordinary inmate. And he did, I think, briefly share a cell with a convicted gang leader.

There was a similar clamour over the gilded-cage conditions of former Philippine president Joseph Estrada's detention during his long plunder trial. He got a presidential pardon last year, shortly after being convicted and sentenced to life in jail.

Jalosjos, of course, was not the only wealthy prisoner in NBP who tried to make life in the slammer more bearable. A sprinkling of other celebrity inmates, most of them there for murder, also lived in comfort there.

The prison authorities are said to turn a blind eye to inmates with means (and not just rich) building their own cabanas to relieve miserable overcrowding in the prison blocks. But most of these are just small nipa huts.

Jalosjos' early release under a clemency order signed by President Gloria Arroyo last year was as controversial as his life of privilege in prison.

Concerned groups said it sent a poor signal on the government's resolve to crack down on the trafficking of children for sex. Jalosjos' victim had been pimped by her stepfather.

Others saw it as a classic case of a political debt paid after Jalosjos rallied support for Mrs Arroyo in the 2004 election in his Zamboanga del Norte bailiwick.

Officials insisted that Jalosjos' release was based solely on his good behaviour, time served and in consideration of his age; all qualifying him for early release.

He is now seeking a full pardon to be able to resume his political career.

Inmates and guards at the national penitentiary in Metro Manila will sorely miss Romeo Jalosjos. The burly former congressman, convicted of raping an 11-year-old girl, was released late last week after serving 13 years of a double life sentence.

As prisoner N98P-0748, Jalosjos used his wealth and influence - he comes from a powerful political family in the southern Philippines - to live a priveleged VIP lifestyle and improve conditions in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP). Around 12,000 prisoners are held in sprawling NBP, parts of it look more like a bario than a correctional facility.

That largessse, as the Philippine Daily Inquirer suggested in a recent editorial, "fundamentally served to provide for his own convenience."

A cash-strapped prison system made it possible for Jalosjos and a sprinkling of other well-heeled inmates to spend their money to make life easier.

On his release, Jalosjos held a news conference in the arcadian grounds of a luxury resort and wellness centre that he had built right next to the prison.

It reminded me of the Colombian drug lord who was famously allowed to build his own mansion in the prison grounds while serving his sentence.

And what a contrast to the cells, described them as the size of a walk-in closet, that awaited billionaire Wall Street swindler Bernie Madoff in after a judge in New York revoked his bail earlier this month.

Jalosjos' early release under a clemency order signed by President Gloria Arroyo last year was as controversial as his life of privilege in prison.

Concerned groups said it sent a poor signal on the government's resolve to crack down on the trafficking of children for sex. Jalosjos' victim had been pimped by her stepfather.

Others saw it as a classic case of a political debt paid after Jalosjos rallied support for Mrs Arroyo in the 2004 election in his Zamboanga del Norte bailiwick.

Officials insisted that Jalosjos' release was based solely on his good behaviour, time served and in consideration of his age; all qualifying him for earely release.

He is now seeking a full pardon to be able to resume his poliitcal career.

Tight race among big personalities

2009-03-13T06:33:00Z

Alastair McIndoe looks at the candidates for the 2010 Philippines election.

THE race for the presidency may be over a year away, but the coming elections are already firmly in the spotlight in the Philippines.

If the mid-2010 polls were held now, according to a survey this week by pollsters Pulse Asia, it would be too close to call between four likely candidates: the vice-president, two senators and a former president thrown out of office for corruption.

Let me introduce them:

Vice-president Noli de Castro is the front-runner with 19 per cent of the poll's votes. The former TV presenter, who does a popular weekly radio show, has so far not said whether he plans to run. He has kept a low profile during President Gloria Arroyo's turbulent leadership.

Just behind him with 17 per cent of the vote is a young senator: Francis "Chiz" Escudero. His supporters are pushing him as a mould-breaking Filipino version of US President Barack Obama. Mr Escudero will only qualify to run for the presisdency when he turns 40 later this year. He was the most popular of the four in vote-rich Metro Manila.

Former president Joseph Estrada, convicted of plunder and pardoned by Mrs Arroyo last year, got 16 per cent of the vote. When the former movie star and vice-president ran in 1998, he got 30 per cent; the biggest majority of any Philippine president, thanks to poor voters. He is still popular among the poor.

Mr Estrada has vowed to run if the opposition doesn't unify itself behind a single candidate. But some analysts say he isn't eligible to do so under the Constituirtion.

Senator Manuel "Manny" Villar, a self-made property tycoon born on the wrong side of the tracks, got 15 per cent of the poll's votes. He's a big hit with overseas contract workers and their families back home for repatriating Filipinos in distress abroad.

Senator Loren Legarda, another former TV personality, is the only women among the "presidentiables", as they are called. She got 12 per cent. Voters may be reluctant to elect a women on the heels of Mrs Arroyo's unpopular presidency, say some commentators.

Several likely candidates failed to make double-digits in the poll. I'll mention one: Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas, a 50-year-old political blue-blood, is expected to throw his hat in the ring after - so the gossip goes - he proposes to his girlfriend, a glamorous TV newsreader.

Having a show-biz spouse can be a big plus at the polls, though to be fair to Mr Roxas, he is a capable and respected lawmaker. He got 8 per cent of the vote.

Preparations are already underway for the first automated elections for the country's 40 million voters. They are ferverently hoping that this will help eliminate electoral fraud.

The poll vividly reflects the widely held view here that 2010's election will be tight race among the main personalities. So far, only Mr Villar has clearly stated his intention to run. The deadline to do so is Nov 30.

The size of campaign war chests often plays a prominent role in deciding the outcome of this country's invariably rollicking elections; not just for the presidency, but also for congressional and local-government posts.

The Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, a think-tank, estimates that it can cost up to 5 billion pesos (S$158 million) to run a campaign for the presidency; up to 100 million pesos for a seat in Congress and about the same for the governor of a large province.

Political parties are built around candidates not ideaology here. And the distinctions between administration and opposition get blurred come election time, with candidates often switching sides if it can get them elected.

Jobs and tackling corruption are shaping up to be the main 2010 election isssues.

In the bare-knuckled world of Philippine politics, foes and rivals will be falling over themselves to dish the dirt on each other. Actually, it's already started.

Going by the circles where politics is debated, Mr Villar's chances of becoming the next president are rated highly as things stand. He is touting his experience and undeniable success as businessman.

Being enormously rich helps, of course.

Filipinos and their “Number Twos”

2009-02-12T07:38:00Z

Alastair McIndoe looks at extra-marital affairs in the Philippines.

In Manila

IN THE Philippines, where divorce is impossible and mistresses commonplace, short-stay hotels do brisk business over Valentine's week from cheating husbands.

"We do see a rise in traffic over the period, but of course we never ask who the customers are," said the manager of a short-stay hotel.

But he agreed that some of the extra business expected on the days just before and after Feb 14 come from married men meeting their lovers for a Valentine's tryst.

There are an estimated 80 to 100 such short-stay hotels and motels in Manila.

Realising that some couples find check-in procedures embarrassing, one drive-in motel offers this by hand signal: Two fingers for a standard room, three for deluxe and four for a mini-suite. At the no-frills end of the market, rooms cost just a few hundred pesos - around S$7 - for a stay of a few hours.

Of course, many couples using these places are married and just want to grab a few intimate hours away from the kids in a spicier ambience than home.

The logo of the biggest chain, Victoria Court, has the face of a 1920s flapper with a finger on her lips. Every time I see one, I’m reminded of my one stay in a "motel no-tell".

It was several years ago in Cebu during the city's popular Sinulog festival in January. Hotel rooms were booked out, so I ended up in a "love hotel" on the outskirts of the city - in the Safari Room.

I shared the room with a live python wrapped around part of a tree in a glass cabinet. At the end of the bed was a stuffed hyena in full snarl.

Back to the mistresses. They are said to be such an embedded though hidden part of Philippine society that newspaper columnist Julie Yap Daza wrote a book on how they should behave: Etiquette for Mistresses: And What Wives Can Learn From Them.

"Mistresses in the Philippines are called 'holiday orphans' because their lovers cannot meet them on Valentine’s Day, when they will be at home with their wives," she told me while I was doing research on the subject for a story last year.

Former president Joseph Estrada famously admitted to having children by different mistresses, some of whom were kept in lavish homes.

But even ordinary folk have their "Number Twos". A friend of mine once dated a woman police officer, who told him that not a few of her married male colleagues had mistresses and what she called "second families".

The Philippines is one of the few countries in the world where divorce is still banned, a legacy of the political influence of the Catholic church here. The Gabriella women's rights party has a Bill legalising divorce gathering dust in Congress.

Annulments are a lengthy and costly process, open only to the well-heeled. Couples separate here like anywhere else; some, I’m told, just quietly re-marry.

Despite a population of 90 million, there were only 7,753 annulments in 2007, according to the Office of the Solicitor General. Singapore, with a population of 4.8 million, reportedly had 7,061 divorces and annulments in 2006.

Not surprisingly, men and women languishing in loveless marriages stray.

"But for every 500 philandering husbands you will probably only find one married woman doing the same," said Ms Daza, noting that Filipino women have too much to lose in terms of financial security to risk getting caught.

But here's another statistic: Seven out of 10 Filipinos agree with the statement: "If you love someone set him free, if he/she comes back again it was meant to be", according a to poll this week by Social Weather Stations.

Philippines' power dilemma

2009-02-06T09:58:00Z

Alastair McIndoe looks at the debate on whether to revive a nuclear plant.

In Manila

HOW to tackle a looming power shortage and the spectre of brownouts? One option being studied in the Philippines is reviving a mothballed nuclear power plant.

Around the world, governments are taking a second look at nuclear energy, and several Asean nations have already announced plans to build reactors for electricity generation.

The Philippines has already got one, though the 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), 130-kms west of Manila, has never generated a watt of electricity.

A group of lawmakers want to rehabilitate the controversial plant.

On a visit there late last month, congressman Juan Miguel Arroyo, who heads the House of Representative's energy panel and is the President's eldest son, said the proposed BNPP Commissioning Act of 2008 now has the support of 190 of the House's 238 lawmakers. A similar Bill is before the Senate.

The developments in Congress for reviving the plant have touched off - and not for the first time - a heated debate on whether the country should go nuclear to help meet its future energy needs. And, if yes, whether to revive the BNPP or start from scratch.

Editorials and commentaries in recent days have generally taken the view that this is not a bright idea on cost and safety grounds.

Presidential adviser on climate change, Heherson Alvarez, warned this week that taking the BNPP out of mothballs would be a "Star Trek solution" fraught with dangers.

Several senior energy officials in this administration that I've spoken to on this issue seem receptive to the nuclear option and are keeping an open mind on the BNPP.

With at least three Asean members, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, announcing plans to build nuclear power plants, concerns over safeguards, such as the disposal of nuclear waste and the effects of natural disasters, are a growing regional concern.

In Singapore five months ago, Asean energy ministers agreed to set up a nuclear safety network and report on its progress at this year's leaders' summit in Thailand.

The sorry saga of the corruption-plagued BNPP is well known here. The light-water reactor was begun in 1976 during the Marcos dictatorship and budgeted to cost some US$500 million (S$753 million). By the time that the Westinghouse-built plant was completed in 1984, costs had skyrocketed to US$2.3 billion.

Millions were allegedly paid to Marcos and his cronies in kickbacks, and the plant remains a rotting symbol of one of the 20th century's most notorious kleptocracies.

Marcos was toppled in 1986 and his successor, Corazon Aquino, closed the plant over safety concerns.The Philippines only finished paying it off in 2007.

The idea of rehabilitating the BNPP is not new. With the Philippines expected to be hit by power shortages in around two years time, the administration has been exploring ways of averting another energy crisis, including nuclear power.

Building a new power station takes around a decade; far less to rehabilitate the BNPP. Late last year, state-owned Napocor, the country's largest power firm, commissioned the Korean Electric Power Co., which operates and build nuclear power plants, to do a feasibility study on reviving the BNPP. That is set to be fininshed next year.

Not suprisingly, this galvanised anti-nuke groups here as well as sparked lively debate in the media on the nuclear option.

That's no bad thing if it puts the spotlight on the formidable energy challenges that this country faces to meet the demands of the economy and a burgeoning population.

Filipinos vividly remember the crippling power shortages of the early 1990s, when brownouts of 12 hours and longer made life a misery. One of the BIll's sponsors has warned of severer brownouts unless 3,000 MW is added to exisiting capacitiy by 2012. That's about a fifth of the current supply.

With or without nuclear power, renewabale energy sources, and especially geothermal power, will play a bigger role in this country's energy mix. These have already helped significantly reduce depndence on imported oil

The safety debate has long centred on the BNPP being built near an earthquake fault line and surrounded by several active and dormant volvacos in Luzon Island. These include Mount Pinatubo, which erupted with spectacular ferocity in 1991.

In his 2006 book, "Trailblazing: The Quest for Energy Self-Reliance," the late Geronimo Velasco, who helped shape the sector during the Marcos era, wrote that the International Atomic Energy Agency approved the site at Napot Point as suitable for a nuclear plant.

Mount Pinatubo was "proof of the pudding," wrote Velasco. He noted that the eruption unleased severe earth tremors and damaged buildings further afield than PNBB. No damage was reported at the plant, which is built on hard bedrock overlooking the sea.

Other experts argue that the Philippines, which sits on the volatile Rim of Fire, a region of volcanic eruptions and tectonic-plate shifts in the Pacific Ocean, is simply too unstable to use nuclear power.

The cost of rehabilitating BNPP is estimated at US$1 billion - three times the cost of building a new nuclear power plant. A journalist who recently visited the BNPP described the control room as looking like the set of a 1970s James Bond movie.

Have a look here!

Reporters at risk

2009-01-24T07:27:00Z

Alastair McIndoe on why radio journos in the Philippines are walking targets.

REPORTING on local radio can be a deadly business in the Philippines. More journalists from this media are killed here than anywhere else in the world.

This year's first casualty was 38-year-old Badroddin Abbas, who hosted a talk-radio programme in the southern city of Cotabato, an edgy place at the best of times. He was shot in the head by gunmen who waylaid his car on Wednesday night.

In the previous month, two radio journalists, Leo Mila, 35, and Arecio Padrigao, 52, were gunned down in separate killings in other parts of the country. Mr Padrigao was reportedly shot while dropping his seven-year-old daughter off at school.

Eight journalists were killed in the Philippines last year. According to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Mr Abbas was the 63rd journalist killed since President Gloria Arroyo came to power in 2001. That 's just over half the total number of slain journalists since the fall of the Marcos regime in 1986.

International journalists' groups have long ranked the Philippines as one of the most dangerous countries for members of the media after Iraq.

But the danger here is in a different line of fire: Many of the slain Filipino journalists were radio broadcasters from small provincial towns, who had fatally tangled with local politicians, corrupt officials or crime bosses.

While the Philippines has a free and vibrant media, it is among a group of nations that include Pakistan, Mexico, Columbia where journalists become targets if they cross powerful interests.

In Manila and other big cities, lawyers are generally used to silence annoying reporters with the threat of writs. But in the provinces, where local strongmen run their own armed groups and the law has less reach, hired guns are preferred if warnings don't work.

"You can say what you like about President Arroyo and the government, but not local politicians," says veteran journalist Joel Torres. "In the provinces, everything is taken much more personally."

Not surprisingly, some journalists carry guns here.

With elections looming in 2010, and political violence traditionally escalates over these periods, media-watch organisations fear attacks on journalists will escalate.

Some blame the high death toll during President Arroyo's watch on the same "climate of impunity" in which large numbers of left-wing activists have been murdered. There have been accusations that elements in the military were involved.

The death toll in those killings has fallen sharply over the past year. A clamour of protests from foreign governments and rights groups galvanised the administration into probing the attacks on activists with the above-ground left.

Over the years, Filipino journalists have paid with their lives for exposing illegal logging, smuggling and town-hall corruption. The gunman, usually on a motorbike, is rarely unexpected; most victims get death threats and warnings to stop.

Many of the slain Filipino radio broadcasters - including Mr Abbas, according to reports - were "block timers," commentators who buy air time from radio stations. Their shows are often brash and confrontational. As local newspaper editorials wearily point out after every practically every murder, that's no justification for having them killed.

Shortly after Mr Mila's murder, I asked one of his colleagues at a sister station why he had ignored death threats, reportedly for exposing corruption in the town of San Roque. "He did it out of principle," she replied. "I do commentaries, but you have to be careful."

There have only been a handfull of successful convictions in the murders of journalists. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says the Philippines and Russia have particulalry poor records in solving these killings.

Witnesses are often too frightened to testify, fearing retribution from the hidden hands behind the murders (a major obstacle, too, in prosecuting members of drug syndicates).

But there is a sense among some local journalists that more is now being done to investigate these unsolved murders, which get noticed overseas.

In 2007, President Arroyo set up Task Force 211, an agency under the Department of Justice. to investigate and prosecute cases involving extra-judicial killings, including those of journalists. The latest data, from this month, show 263 cases have been investigated, with 37 going to trial. The rest had either been dismissed, gone cold, are under investigation or the accused, as in 70 cases, are still at large.

There is no specific breakdown for journalists. But the progress of each case can be tracked on Task Force 211's website (www.taskforce211.com.ph). It names the victim and the respondent/accused as well as the current status of each case.

Still, more high-profile convictions of those ordering the killings - and not just the hired gunmen - are sorely needed.

Filipinos afire about abuse of power

2009-01-06T06:30:00Z

Alastair McIndoe describes the Internet ire about a high-profile kerfuffle.

In Manila

BLOGGERS and internet message boards are seething with anger over a "guns, goons and golf" scandal embroiling a member of President Gloria Arroyo's Cabinet.

It started over an altercation at the Valley Golf and Country Club in Antipolo near Manila on December 26th. Businessman Delfin dela Paz and his 14-year-old son claim that they were beaten up by the two sons (one of them a city mayor) of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman and three of their bodyguards.

According the Dela Pazs, Mr Pangandaman witnessed the incident but did not intervene. An emotional eyewitness account of the alleged assault was posted on the blog of Mr Dela Paz's 18-year-old daughter Bambee.

Source: Internet

Her story spread like wildfire cross the Internet, with Filipinos here and abroad expressing sympathy for her dad and brother, and largely vilifying the Pangandamans.

"This is a classic display of politicians using their power to get away with whatever they want," wrote Kenneth Ragpala in one of hundreds of comments on her blog.

To be fair, both sides are claiming to be the victims in the affray. And both families filed suits against each other on Monday over the incident.

The online support for the Dela Pazs has vividly shown the deep resentment that many Filipinos feel towards officials in general who throw their weight around.

Motorists, for one, bristle at the sight of luxury SUVs, usually in twos or threes, belonging to powerful officials or politicians packed with bodyguards tearing, sirens blazing, along city highways and country roads scattering everything in their way.

According to Ms Dela Paz, her father complained to a golf-club official that members of the Pangandaman party, riding in golf carts, had cut ahead to the next hole without asking permission, a breach of golf etiquette. She said that her father and mayor Nasser Pangandaman Jr then got into a heated arguement on the fairway.

"He attacks my father," she wrote on her blog. "His flightmates, maybe 2 or 3 of them, rush to his aid and beat up my father. My 56-year-old father.

"My younger brother and I could not just watch. We rushed to break the fight. My younger brother pleads to the mayor to please stop it. To not hurt my dad. To just stop.

"His words still ring through my head....With his hands in front of his chest in a praying position. PLEADING. The mayor socks him in the face.

"My brother defended himself. My dad is still on the ground getting clobbered. My brother is the same way. I try to stop the fight, but all I can do is stop one person. There were four or five of them attacking now," she wrote.

The rumble resumed in the clubhouse, where she alleges the mayor attacked her brother again and two bodyguards with the Pangandamans drew their guns.

A television news crew later interviewed her distraught brother Bino, a high-school student in Manila. Dried blood was visible on one of his ears.

Ms Dela Paz studies at a university in the Unted States. On her blog, Vicissitudes, she describes herself as a "Full-blooded Filipina. Feminist/Nationalist."

It is flooded with sympathetic messages. Prominent political commentators in the Philippines have also waded into the debate.

Writer and broadcaster Manuel Quezon III, grandson of a former president, wrote on his blog: "When someone like Bambee Dela Paz and her family collide with official thugs, the collision isn’t just physical, it’s cultural. The set of rules that keeps the plebs in their place is never supposed to intrude into places where gentility matters."

Ms Dela Paz made clear that Mr Pangandaman Sr did not take part in the altercation. But, she adds: "He didn't do anything to stop it. And this person...is a Cabinet member."

That he was recently appointed by President Arroyo to a new government panel handling the peace process with the country's largest Muslim rebel group, made the story even more piquant. He comes from a prominent political family on Mindanao Island. His son and namesake Nasser is mayor of Masiu City in Lanao del Sur province there.

According to Ms Dela Paz, Mr Pagandaman Jr yelled at his caddy: "They don't know who we are. Tell them who I am." If he did, that could harden the view that this was not just a hot-blooded row between golfers (and there's a sizable fiery Latino streak in most Filipinos), but a case of the "arrogance of power" as one newspaper columnist put it.

As things stand, the Pangandamans have not given a detailed account of their side of the story. Mr Pangandaman Jr has reportedly claimed that he reacted in self-defence, alleging that Mr Dela Paz attacked him with an umbrella.

A dangerous bang

2008-12-30T13:04:00Z

Alastair McIndoe explains why he will be dodging fireworks in Manila on NYE.

In Manila

FILIPINOS love to see in the New Year with a bang.

Even as I write this in my house in Manila, and it's only Tuesday afternoon, I can hear the plop of fireworks exploding in the distance.

Come nightfall on Wednesday, there will be a rising crescendo of explosions in the run-up to midnight as fireworks are let off in the streets and in organised displays, covering the city in a thick blanket of smoke for several hours.

The dark side of all this pyrotechnic merriment are the several hundred injuries caused by fireworks across the country over the New Year season.

Between Dec 21 and 29, 119 people, many of them children, were treated for fireworks injuries, a slightly lower toll than the average for the same period over the previous four years, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

The numbers, of course, rises sharply as New Year nears, and 434 cases were reported at last New Year's Eve, half the total injuries between Dec 21 2007 and Jan 5 2008. Thirty-five per cent of the injured were under 10 years of age.
As in previous years, the government has been running blood-curdling information campaigns on the perils of mishandling fireworks in various media over the past several days.

The current Health Secretary Francisco Duque is known to favour a total ban on fireworks, though it is hard see that happening.

Because of the thick smog, environmental groups are urging revellers to make a noise barrage by banging pots and pans instead. But seeing in the New Year with fireworks, as well as noisemakers, remains an unshakable Filipino tradition.

The DOH's breakdown shows that three of the top five types of fireworks causing the current crop of injuries were illegal. These garishly packaged but potentially hazardous products are sold openly in markets and roadside stalls.

An illicit backyard fireworks industry thrives in and around a handful of small towns near Manila. A heavy duty clampdown is sorely needed, but has yet to happen.

I visited one makeshift operation near Bocaue, about an hour's drive from the capital two years ago. In the corner of a field, shaded by a tarpaulin, several boys in their late teens, covered in grey dust, were packing chemicals into cardboard tubes to make rockets.

Source: REUTERS

There is a sizable above-board fireworks industry, too. But, as an editorial in The Philippine Star noted a few days ago, sales have fallen sharply in the face of foreign competition. I guess that means from China.

"The imports offer brighter and more elaborate fireworks and are safer to handle," said the paper.

Two years ago, much to the alarm of the authorities, a craze started for a bazooka-like canon made of PVC pipe called a boga. Using denatured alcohol or methylated spirits rather than gunpowder, it made an ear-splitting bang. It was swiftly banned.

One of the most popular illegal fireworks - and a major cause of injuries - is the quaint-sounding piccolo, a type of firecracker. Pla-plas, triangular envelopes of thick cardboard packed with gunpowder, make predictably thunderous bangs. And the tyre-sized Sawa, an awesome device, packs up to 5,000 rounds of explosives in its coils.

In the fiesta-like atmosphere of New Year in the Philippines, stray bullets fired by revellers - some in uniform - are another cause of injuries.

Policemen in a number of precincts in the capital have the barrels of their guns taped and initialled by senior officers a few days before New Year to make sure they don't fire off a round or two. Those that do face dismissal.

Source: AP

So come Wednesday, new year revellers in the streets will have to be mindful to dodge exploding fireworks, and heaven forbid, stray bullets too.

Mall crazy Philippines

2008-12-21T22:00:00Z

Alastair McIndoe on why malls can help the economy from being mauled.

In Manila

THREE of the world's 10 largest shopping malls are now in the Philippines.

The great malls of China - South China Mall in Dongguan and the Golden Resources Shopping Mall in Beijing are the two biggest.

But coming in a respectable third place, thanks to a 90,000 square metre extension that opened this month, is the SM City North Edsa in the Philippine capital.

A visit to a mall - and I'll say right off that I would not recommend SM City North Edsa - is a must on a trip to Manila, along with the old Spanish walled city of Intramuros and a baywalk stroll at sunset.

The country's jumbo-size mall chains - SM and Robinsons - were founded by Filipino-Chinese taipans: SM by Henry Sy; Robinson's by John Gokongwei. Both are living legends here, who helped shaped this country's vibrant retailing landscape.

The big malls typically have vast food courts; exhibition centres; multiplex cinemas, some with as many as 12 screens; amusement arcades; skating rinks or bowling alleys; health and wellness centres; and, of course, floors of shops from local retailers to famous international names like Marks & Spencer and Ralph Lauren.

On Sundays, Catholic masses in this predominantly Christian country are held in the walkways, where shoppers squeeze past worshippers.

Inside the box, there is not a lot of difference between the two chains: The SMs malls have a shaper look; Robinsons a cosier atmosphere.

Manila's first malls were built back in the 1970s. Rising disposable incomes among the middle-classes spurred a mall boom in Manila (population:12 million) over the past two decades. That malls are now springing up at a rapid rate in the larger provincial towns is an encouraging sign of how the economy is faring, despite the current gloom.

It is unlikely that malls would play such an important part in the lives of ordinary Filipinos - both for shopping and killing time - had it not been for the billions of dollars sent home by the several million Filipinos living and working overseas.

This year, their remittances, despite the global financial meltdown since the fourth quarter, is expected to exceed a record US$15 billion. That's about a tenth of the country's entire gross domestic product to put in perspective.

The hard-earned dollars of Filipinos working as house helpers in Singapore, English-language teachers in Thailand and nurses and searfares in scores of countries are not, of course, being merrily blown in the malls by their loved ones.

The bulk of the money goes on household expenses and the education. All the same, a tidy sum, nobody knows for sure how much, is keeping the tills ringing in the malls and providing a powerful incentive to build new ones.

To be sure, consumer spending has largely underpinned a long run of growth in the economy, which expanded an eye-catching 7.2 per cent in 2007, its best performance in three decades. Growth is expected to fall sharply this year and next because of the global financial crisis. Still, economists, as things stand, aren't predicting a recession.

Despite the hard times, SM City North Edsa's six-storey The Annex got off to a respectable start a few weeks ago, with tenants singing up for 70 per cent of the leasable space. The extension is expected to provide employment to nearly 3,000 workers.

The steel-and-glass dome-fronted complex faces a busy intersection on the Edsa highway in Quezon City, the biggest of 16 cities that make up Metropolitan Manila.

For visitors, its location and the motor madness of Edsa keeps it off my mall picks, which I list below, along with the world's 10 largest malls.

Not all of Manila's malls are large, shiny complexes like the SMs. Many of the older ones have seen better days and know it; their air conditioners and escalators are often turned off to save money. The tattiest ones often sell bootleg items.

I'd be suprised if another mega-sized mall was built in Manila the medium-term. But the city is likely to see more smaller, boutique malls aimed at well-heeled shoppers, like the Power Plant Mall in the Rockwell Center in the financial district of Makati and The Podium next to the ADB in Ortigas.

Here are the world's 10 biggest malls by interior floor space for leasing:

- South China Mall , Dongguan, China - 660,000 sq-m
- Golden Resources Shopping Mall, Beijing, China - 560,000 sq-m
- SM City Edsa North, Manila, Philippines - 425,000 sq-m
- Mall of Asia, Manila, Philippines - 386,000 sq-m
- Dubai Mall, Dubai, United Arab Emirates - 350,000 sq-m
- West Edmonton Mall, Alberta, Canada - 350,000 sq-m
- Cevahir Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey - 348,000 sq-m
- SM Megamall, Manila, Philippines - 332,000 sq-m
- Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 320,000 sq-m
- Beijing Mall, Beijing, China - 320,000 sq-m

Source: American Studies at Eastern Connecticut State University
Shopping Mall and Shopping Center Studies (http://www.easternct.edu/depts/amerst/MallsWorld.htm) and SM Prime Holdings.

And my top malls in Manila in order of preference:

- SM Megamall in Ortigas: Opened in 1991 and still Manila's best-loved mall. Its 12 cinemas have large screens, there's a good range of restaurants, and its easy to navigate. The galleries of Filipino art on the fourth floor are highly recommended.
- Robinsons Place Manila on Padre Faura, Ermita has a shiny new extension, and it's good starting-point for a walk around one of Manila's most atmospheric quarters.
- The Mall of Asia, Pasay City: Manila's newsest king-sized mall overlooking Manila Bay opened in 2006. It has IMAX cinemas and Olympic-size skating rink. Easy to get lost in.
- Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Center: small but very upmarket mall, focused on fashion, in pleasant surroundings.

The Pacman packs a punch

2008-12-07T12:47:00Z

Alastair McIndoe describes the pride among Filipinos after Pacquiao's win.

In Manila

FILIPINOS are swelling with joyous pride after local boxing hero Manny Pacquiao demolished Mexican-American opponent Oscar De La Hoya in Las Vagas.

It was another stunning victory for the 29-year-old Pacquiao, further cementing his reputation as the world's best pound-for-pound boxer.

Manila's streets were mostly deserted Sunday morning and early afternoon as Pacquiao's adoring fans followed live broadcasts of the non-title bout at the MGM Grand in open-air stadiums, cinemas and other venues across the city.

I watched the match in a large gym at the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines at Camp Aguinaldo, a sprawling military base in the heart of city. Around 3,000 troops and their families packed the sweltering venue to watch the fight.

"He our great pride," a young Army signalman replied when I asked him what Pacquiao meant to Filipinos. I got the same answer from others there.

International boxing experts had rated the lighter and smaller Pacquiao as the underdog in the non-title bout against 10-time world champion De La Hoya.

"Even if he loses, we'll still love him," Ms Angie Librade, a therapist at the camp's wellness centre told me as the first round got underway.

How wrong the pundits were: Pacquiao nimbly attacked De La Hoya with a barrage of punches and jabs from the start.

The troops roared - a sound not unlike "Ole!" at a bullfight - each time Pacquiao's landed a particulalry heavy blow against his opponent, who looked slow from the start.

Many in the audience were feverishly sending text-message updates of the fight to relatives and friends.

An explosion of cheering followed the announcement that Pacquiao had won in the eighth round in a technical knockout. The ecstatic audience filed out into the blazing sunlight high-fiving friends and strangers.

The Pacman, as his called here, has snapped up world titles in four weight divisions, the first Asian to so so.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo called to congratulate Pacquiao for his victory, calling it a "testament to the spirit of the Filipino," said a statement from her office.

In a taxi on the drive home, I listened to him being interviewed on the radio. "You're a greater fighter and a coming politician," the interviewer gushed. Pacquiao replied that his win was a "big honour to all Filipinos who love boxing".

He made no mention - and appropritely so - of his widely expected next career move to go into politics in 2009 after one, maybe two, more big fights.

But as I wrote in a profile of the boxer in The Straits Times last month, he will find Philippine politics, unlike the rules of the ring, a no-holds-barred, below-the belt business.

Political pot calling the kettle black?

2008-12-05T09:16:00Z

Alastair McIndoe on why Thailand is unhappy with the Philippines.

In Manila

THAI diplomats in Manila are fuming.

Remarks by President Gloria Arroyo's deputy spokesman Anthony Golez that the political turmoil in Thailand is unlikely to happen in the Philippines because "our people have reached a high degree of political maturity" has sparked off a diplomatic tiff.

Thailand's ambassador in Manila, Kulkumut Singhara Na Ayudhaya, took Mr Golez's remarks to mean that Thais are politically immature.

At a press conference on Wednesday, the ambassador reminded the Philippines of Asean's bedrock principle: Member nations should not interfere in each other's internal affairs.

He said the recent spate of protests in Bangkok show that Thais are free to exercise their political rights.

To be fair to Mr Golez, he did not actually call the Thais "politically immature", judging by reports of his remarks. All the same, he did leave a "pot calling the kettle back" impression.

It wasn't so long ago that an incompetent, corrupt but democratically-elected leader, Joseph Estrada, was thrown out in the Philippines' second "people power" revolution.

The manner of Mr Estrada's removal, after his impeachment trial on plunder charges collapsed in 2000, worried many in the international community because it overstepped the Constitution. Mrs Arroyo, then vice-president, took over as leader.

For the past three years, a restless but disunited opposition has tried but failed to mobilise popular support to unseat Mrs Arroyo for - among other things - allegedly cheating in the 2004 election.

Analysts have called it "people-power fatigue". Whether that pessimism is a sign of political maturity is debatable. Mr Golez says Filipino voters respect "due process and the rule of law."

Still, a highly-controversial attempt by administration allies to change the Philippine Constitution (which the opposition suspects is aimed at extending terms of incumbent politicians, including Mrs Arroyo's), is perhaps the one thing that could spark unrest here, especially among the politically-vocal middle classes.

Demonstrations against charter change before the 2010 elections are planned in Manila for later this month. If the protests gather momentum, and there is even a whiff of "people power" being reprised, Mrs Arroyo will surely hit the brakes on the Cha-Cha train. Charter change, that is.

High crime, bad nation?

2008-11-28T09:27:00Z

Alastair McIndoe says foreigners aren't so affected by crime in the Philippines.

In Phillipines

FIRST-TIME visitors to Manila reading the metro sections of newspapers here will quickly get the impression that the city is awash in violent crime.

Here are some headlines from this week:
"3 Bodies Found In Garbage Heap."
"Robber Kills 2 Women In Las Pinas."
"Gunman Finishes Off Victim In Tondo Hospital."
"Moonlighting Cop Kills 2 Rob Suspects In Navotas Heist."

I could go on....

It's an image that undoubtedly puts some off from visiting the Philippines - a country of extraordinary beauty, with famously friendly people and generally good value all round.

Yes, the Philippines has plenty of law and order problems: Wrenching poverty in Manila and other urban sprawls stokes crime; there are terrorists in the south and a pesky Communist insurgency has been sputtering for decades across the country.

But foreigners living and visiting here rarely come to grief. Those who do have usually crossed a hard-to-know line in a dispute over money or a perceived slight. Then the consequences can be serious.

As I wrote in a piece for The Sunday Times several months ago, one reason why foreigners are seldom the target of criminals - and this is only an impression, mind - is that the police are likely to try harder in these cases.

Do I feel safe here? Yes, unequivocally. I have never had a safety problem or needed to take extra precautions beyond the usual do's and dont's of living in any big city.

The same goes for most of the foreigners that I know here - and, contrary to the perceptions of many locals, we don't all live in tony-gated communities.

Covering the Philippines for The Straits Times, I'm interested in the impressions of holidaymakers and business travellers visiting for the first time. The friendliness of the locals without exception gets mentioned first.

Many admit to having had some security jitters at the outset - first impressions of Manila can be a tad overwhelming - but these quickly disappeared.

Going back to the crime stories: one I remember from my first visit to the Philippines in 1996 was about a young Canadian backpacker who had fallen victim to a notorious gang of robbers that drugged their victims with Ativan, a powerful sedative.

Two male gang members, well-dressed and affable, got chatting to her in an outdoors cafe in Manila and spiked her drink. She woke up several hours later in an empty lot on the outskirts of the city. Her valuables and passport had been stolen, but she was otherwise unharmed. Beside her lay a 100 peso note - enough money for a taxi ride into the city.

Such a relatively benign outcome would have been unthinkable in South Africa, where I had worked for several years as a journalist. Over that time, I was robbed at gunpoint, burgled, attacked in a road-rage incident and nearly hit in a bomb blast.

Believe me, the Philippines is a breeze by comparison.