Nanay Edith Langamin forwarded a text she got from Atty. Ira Pozon of the Office of the Vice-President to my mobile phone. It said that the Vice-President would like to meet with her regarding the case of her son, Jonard, who is on Saudi Arabia’s death row. The meeting was to be held Wednesday, January 4 at the Coconut Palace.

“Ma’am Toots, pakisamahan po ako,” Nanay Edith said. The Blas F. Ople Center, a nonprofit organization, which I head, has been helping Nanay Edith follow-up on her son’s case since April 2011. At that time, news reporter Jeff Canoy was doing a documentary on the lives of OFWs. Jeff’’s able researcher, Cherrie Ongtengco, fetched Nanay Edith at her home in Caloocan City for that eventful morning meeting.

It was 10.30 am, Wednesday. We motored from the Ople Center to the spacious Coconut Palace by the bay. Nanay Edith brought along her sister, Rina. At the entrance of the Vice-President’s wooden palace was Atty. Ira Pozon, the person tasked with looking after sensitive OFW cases. His handshake was warm, as was his smile. Nanay Edith’s heart fluttered with anticipation.

We were shown into a room. Already seated were Vice-President Jejomar Binay, his adviser, former Ambassador Jun Lozada, OWWA Administrator Carmelita Dimzon, and Robert Mendoza, the father of Robertson Mendoza, who was killed by Jonard Langamin during an altercation on May 5, 2008. Both the Mendoza and Langamin families were unaware that the meeting would involve both parties. However, Nanay Edith and Ka Bert have met twice before. Ka Bert is a softspoken man with a good heart who had told me once before that he bore no grudge against Jonard.

The entire group moved to the Vice-President’s office where there was a comfortable set of sofas facing each other, and three chairs commanding the front. On those three chairs sat Administrator Dimzon, Ambassador Lozada and with the Vice-President right in the middle. The Mendoza family sat to his left and Nanay Edith, her sister, Rina, DFA’s Ambassador Eric Endaya of the Office of Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA) and I were seated opposite them.

For three years, Nanay Edith had been following up her son’s case. Blood money has been set at the equivalent of Php5 million. Edith and her husband sell fishball and sweet corn at the Baliuag Bus Terminal in Caloocan City. Prior to that meeting, the Langamins were able to raise just Php 30,000, from money chipped in by OFW families and a few anonymous donors. During that Wednesday morning, we learned that Jonard was to be executed on March 2012.

Vice-President Jejomar Binay spoke with a soft voice, and every word he uttered was measured with tact and diplomacy especially towards the aggrieved family. He opened the meeting with an appeal to not dwell on the past and instead focus on how both families could move on. He briefed us about the process regarding blood money cases. He assured Robert Mendoza that the government has taken cognizance of his family’s grief and loss. The Vice-President steered the conversation to the plight of Jonard Langamin and the urgent need for a solution prior to March. He asked Ka Bert in the softest and most gentle manner possible, whether he would be able to forgive Jonard and to put such act of forgiveness in writing. After a few quiet heartbeats, Ka Bert, who was looking down at that time, nodded yes.

The intensity of that moment shall stay with me forever. While the Vice-President and Ambassador Endaya of the DFA were discussing procedures, Nanay Edith leaped out of the sofa and crossed over to Ka Bert’s side and knelt before him. Her body shook with tears, emotions etched on her face like a glass sculpture. The room itself was suffused with joy pouring out from Edith’s grateful heart. Three years, that case was unresolved. It took ten minutes on that fateful Wednesday morning, for Jonard Langamin’s life to be spared. God was in the room.

Later that day, I watched the news and saw Bert Mendoza explaining why he decided to formally forgive Jonard. “I asked my son for a sign. I said that if I woke up early on Wednesday with a light feeling, that would be a sign from Robertson that all must be forgiven.” And yes, he did.

What now remains is for the Department of Foreign Affairs to send the letter of forgiveness signed by Robert Mendoza, as the patriarch of the family, to the Philippine Embassy which shall then formallly present this to the Saudi court. What is important is that Jonard’s life has been spared. What is inspiring was how Ka Bert found freedom in forgiveness. I wish the Langamin and Mendoza families the best of luck in their new lives and I thank Vice-President Binay and the DFA for resolving this case. (Send comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter, www.twitter.com/susanople.)

Today, my mother, Susana, my siblings as well as my daughter and I, will have lunch together at my brother’s condo unit in Quezon City. Each sub-family will bring food to share, and I am quite sure that my Kuya Bulos in Los Angeles, California and our eldest brother, Luis, who is based in Geneva, Switzerland, will call my mom on her mobile phone which will then get passed around like a box of yummy chocolates.

Such happy family reunions that straddle both the virtual and non-digital worlds make the Christmas holiday season really a joy to behold. One can tell from the constant uploading and tagging of photos on Facebook that this season has been both busy and happy, celebrated the Filipino way.

Today, we give thanks for the birth of our redeemer, Jesus Christ, in the most humble of places – a manger strewn with straw. After invoking His name in prayer, we then fit and fill our plates with food that we could afford, and exchange gifts with people closest to our hearts. The more lucky ones would have gifts ready for mass delivery, as a business strategy or as a marketing ploy. Politicians would have separate lists for media friends, party-mates, benefactors, staff, and next-of-kin.

This Christmas, I have my own modest list of special wishes for certain people and institutions:

1. Jonard Langamin and his mother Edith – I pray and hope that the Langamin family would be able to raise the much needed Php 5-million in blood money being required of them so that 27-year old Jonard would not be executed in Saudi Arabia. Jonard deeply regrets his crime, and the aggrieved family, also Filipinos, have long forgiven him for killing their loved one during a heated altercation aboard a ship docked near Saudi Arabia. Nanay Edith and her husband sell fishball and sweet corn for a living. The aggrieved family is also of modest means. Raising Php 5-million to save Jonard from a daily income of P200/day is next to impossible. For those interested in helping out the Langamin family, here is Nanay Edith’s number: +639994307853.I also offer the same prayers for other OFWs on Saudi’s death row like Dondon Lanuza, Joselito Zapanta, and five others.

2. President Benigno Simeon Aquino III – the year ahead will be a difficult one mainly due to an ailing world economy. My special wish for the President is that he acquires the gift of patience because the high road towards positive change will never be easy. I also pray for discernment and wisdom for PNoy and his closest advisers, because though we are their bosses, our voices are often discordant, and public opinion can be a product of herd mentality, rather than in-depth intellectual, spiritual, and emotional reflection. In the end, we need to rely just as much on his administration’s vision for the country that must come with a clear set of priorities on what must be done in the next five years.

3. Members of the Senate – may their togas remind them of the need to study hard for the impeachment trial and be led by convictions rather than party affiliations, or the clarion call of a 2013 re-election. I wish for them the gift of discernment because the trial involves not just one man, but the credibility of an entire institution, and the stability of an entire nation as well. May they do their jobs well.

4. Business leaders and top 100 companies – My Christmas wish for them is good karma based on their respective corporate social responsibility creed and actions; that fate and good fortune shine upon those who know how to give and pay back, from the heart, and serve as community partners and allies of civil society groups and their own employees. My special thanks go to private companies and government institutions like Pag-Ibig, PhilHealth, SSS, and DBP that sponsored our Happy OFW Christmas event last December 16.

5. OFWs and Local Workers – My Christmas wish is for our workers here and abroad to rise above poverty and mediocrity, and discover the path of personal fulfilment by being able to do what they love most. I pray that there are lesser victims of human trafficking and drug trafficking in 2012. I also pray and wish for greater absorption of workers by our local economy, in jobs that are not contractual in nature, so that our middle class can expand and flourish.

Love is the currency of the yuletide season, and it is difficult not to smile despite aching pockets and horrific traffic jams. The air itself is made light with affection, because kindness is an emotion made viral particularly on Christmas Day.

With this, let me rest my keyboard and end this piece by wishing you the most joyous Christmas ever! May your dreams for your family and for yourself come true! Thank you for being a part of “Our Times” this Christmas. (Send comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople.)

Labor Attache Nasser Mustafa is a hero. While in Libya, he fulfilled his promise to bring home two Filipino domestic workers being held against their will by their employer, deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s niece. While the Department of Foreign Affairs had enunciated its position to wait for the Libyan transition council to take over the country’s leadership, Labor Attache Mustafa worked out a bold rescue plan.

What was remarkable about his feat is the modesty attached to it. An initial statement issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs regarding the Philippine Embassy’s rescue mission conjured images of an elaborate and grandiose plan, citing the use of two embassy teams and a pit stop at the embassy itself. That someone even felt compelled to issue such a premature and half-baked statement without proper coordination with the labor department smacks of territorial assertion rather than the more benign country team approach.

Here are some details about the actual rescue as gathered by this writer:

• Mary Ann and Diana Jill have long wanted to come home and feared for their lives as the conflict in Libya intensified but their employer, a niece of Col. Gadhafi, refused to let them go.
• It took ten days for Labor Attache Mustafa to locate the actual residence of Diana’s employer which at times was surrounded by rebel forces.
• At around 6.30 AM of September 19 (Manila time), Labor Attache Nasser Mustafa, embassy driver Alih Mariwa and his Libyan friend and interpreter Awal Ajanti rescued Diana Jill Rivera and Mary Ann Ducos from their Libyan employers.
• On the morning of the rescue, Mustafa was in touch with the two women via mobile phone and he requested Mary Ann to go up the roof and wave to him as a confirmation that he was in front of the right house.
• While Mary Ann was on top of the roof, Diana Jill was keeping guard on the ground. She made sure that her two little wards were asleep and that none of the armed guards and her employers were awake.
• The two left the house using the front gate, leaving behind all their belongings, as instructed by the labor attaché.
• Once they were in the embassy car, Labor Attache Mustafa instructed Alih Mariwa to drive as fast as he could away from the house and towards the Tunisian border.
• Diana Jill and Mary Ann were able to cross the border from Libya to Tunisia using travel documents prepared by the Philippine Embassy.

On his Facebook page, two days after the daring rescue, Labor Attache Mustafa posted this comment: “Real success is finding your life’s work in the work that you love.” Bravo Labatt Nash Mustafa for your heroism and leadership in bringing our two OFWs home!
Upon hearing of Mustafa’s efforts, civil society groups allied with the Blas F. Ople Policy Center were quick to come together and plan a tribute dinner for him. Jun Aguilar of the Filipino Migrant Workers’ Group said that the labor attache’s three-man team breathe life to President Aquino’s inaugural directive of an even more responsive DFA and DoLE for distressed OFWs.

There are more people to thank for working behind the scenes and also for assuring the two OFWs of new and better beginnings. First dibs go to Jenny Rivera who tirelessly worked for the freedom of her sister, Diana Jill. Her persistence in going to DoLE, the DFA, and OWWA to follow up her sister’s case led her to become the Ople Center’s liaison officer. Labor Attache Mustafa did the actual rescue but it was Jenny’s fighting spirit that kept that option open from February to September of this year.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis accommodated all our requests, and was ever present at the DFA whenever Jenny had information to share. We at the Ople Center also acknowledge the help of the staff and officers at the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs. Special thanks go to Vice-President Jejomar Binay who had comforted Jenny in the past and kept his promise of making sure that her sister’s case would not be forgotten.

James Concepcion, president of the Days Hotel and Cecille Tan, vice president for operations, have assured Diana Jill and Mary Ann that they could train and work for the Days Hotel in Cebu City. Such a generous job offer gave both OFWs real hope after months of despair and danger in the Gadhafi compound. Special thanks also to Jane Ampeloquio of Emergent Concept for willingly taking on the task of training these two household workers.

Upon their arrival in Manila, the two OFWs bonded with their families at the posh Midas Hotel where their weekend stay was sponsored by good friends, Zaldy and Mylene Co through my best friend Arleen Ong. Finally but never least, we offer perpetual thanks to the Lord who have yet to fail us in our mission to help distressed OFWs. He makes the impossible, simply possible. (Send your comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople. The Ople Center’s hotline is 8335337.)

If you have the power to save a life, would you do it? Or do you set a limit on how much time, effort, and money you are willing to set aside before you even decide to act?

That is the crux of the matter involving the creation of a technical working group to study what the administration’s policy should be when it comes to blood money involving overseas Filipino workers on death row.

The decision of the Office of the President to create a technical working group to study and create guidelines on cases involving blood money stemmed from unusually high amounts being required by aggrieved families. The Department of Foreign Affairs have raised the issue of sustainability in relation to requests for blood money.

But first, a definition of terms.

Qisas is a principle under the Shari’a or Islamic law that makes the actual perpetrator of a crime alone guilty, and alone liable to punishment. The punishment must be the exact equivalent of the crime, i.e. tooth for a tooth, life for a life. [5:45, The Holy Qur'an]

However, in consideration of the priceless value of human life, the Islamic law explicitly recommends the substitution of compensation on another plane — through the so-called “diyyah” or blood money compensation for the victim’s mandatory heirs.

Upon the acceptance of “diyyah”, a letter of forgiveness or “tanazul” is issued by the victim’s mandatory heirs.

Once the “tanazul” is issued, the private aspects of the case iareextinguished, and what is left is the public rights aspect of the case which can be waived by the King or Emir (head of state).

Without a “tanazul”, the King (in Saudi Arabia’s case) will never issue pardon or commute the sentence of the perpetrator.

As an OFW advocate, I believe that the technical working group should lose no time in fulfilling its mandate from the President. Time is of the essence considering that some of these cases involving OFWs on death row have been in the legal pipeline for several years.

The case of Dondon Lanuza for example is already a decade-old. Dondon was convicted of stabbing to death an Arab national. This year, for the very first time, the aggrieved family has signified willingness to consider blood money. The Saudi court had ruled that it would be up to the victim’s son to decide on the private aspect of this case when he reaches legal age (18) which would be sometime in 2015.

However, this rare window of opportunity may soon close unless the Lanuza family is able to resolve the issue of blood money amounting to millions of pesos.

My sincere belief is that the Aquino administration has no other recourse but to help families of OFWs on death row particularly in Saudi Arabia to raise the agreed upon “diyyah”. To discard or downplay previous arrangements because the costs are high and the question of sustainability has been raised, would lead to the diminution in the credibility of our own embassy in Riyadh and the Philippine government as a whole.

One must also note the spirit behind Section 27 of Republic Act No. 8042 otherwise known as the Migrant Workers’ Act of 1995:

“The protection of the Filipino migrant workers and the promotion of their welfare in particular, and the protection of the dignity and fundamental rights and freedom of the Filipino citizen abroad, in general, shall be the highest priority concerns of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine foreign service posts.”

In governance, there are matters that only the heart can see. In the case of these OFWs, the aggrieved families have already opened their hearts to the call of forgiveness. Calculating the “sustainability” in hearing such calls for rationalizing what is intrinsically emotional; putting boundaries and ceilings on a State’s capability to save lives.

I am not one to condone the crimes of the OFWs involved. They do not come begging with clean hands. But I must argue on the side of forgiveness and a second chance at reforms and restitution.

In the case of OFW Junard Langamin, he was 27 years old when he first stepped on the ship together with another OFW whose life Junard would soon take away. They left as friends but as the days went by and pressures at work continue to build up, the two Filipinos suddenly found themselves fighting below the ship’s deck. A knife was drawn, a life extinguished.

Junard’s mom is a peanut and corn vendor who wakes up at 5 o’clock every morning to push her cart from her home to the Baliuag Bus Terminal in Caloocan City. How can the Langamin family raise the amount of Php 5 million in exchange for Junard’s freedom without government’s help?

I urge the technical working group well in deciding which lives to save, and which to forego. (Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople. Send comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com)

News Release

Blas F. Ople Policy Center

February 10, 2010

NGO calls on PH to say less and do more to show appreciation for its friendship with Taiwan

Former labor undersecretary and known OFW advocate Susan Ople called on the Aquino administration to bare its plans on how to mitigate the impact of further fall-out from the ongoing row between the Philippines and Taiwan over the recent deportation of 24 Taiwanese nationals to mainland China.

The daughter of the late Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople stressed that while the Philippine government continues to invoke its One-China policy, the fate of over 100,000 Filipino workers and their families back home hang in the balance.

“Are we truly prepared to walk the talk? What is our contingency plan once Taiwan decides not to renew the contracts of our workers? If we don’t even have one, then I appeal to government officials to come up with more nuanced and sober statements,”‘ Ople said, adding that the worsening rift is now causing Filipinos in Taiwan deep concern.

The head of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a non-government organization known for helping distressed OFWs, said that there are instances in the diplomatic world when the “‘less talk-more action’” rule should be observed. “‘To my mind, this is one such instance. Let our diplomats and private industry leaders sort this out with their counterparts as long-standing friends are wont to do, below the radar screen but always with deep respect and appreciation for each other.”‘

The center pointed out the irony that billions of pesos are being poured in to finance conditional cash transfers to the poor yet the government seems to be too stingy in its statements extolling the mutually beneficial relations between Taiwan and the Philippines over the years that have led to decent jobs for hundreds of thousands of Filipinos.

‘Low-skilled migrant workers in Taiwan including Filipinos earn at least twice, if not triple, the minimum wage in their homeland. Taiwan has been quite effective in promoting the rights of all workers including foreign workers. And while we adhere to the One-China policy as many other countries do, we should not fail to recognize and be grateful for the enormous contributions of the peoples and leadership of Taiwan to our country.”

The anti-human trafficking advocate noted that there may have been a coordination gap when the Bureau of Immigration failed to notify the Manila Economic and Cultural Office about the pending case involving 24 Taiwanese nationals. ‘This is not to cast aspersion on any single agency but simple courtesies do matter. Had the MECO and even our labor department been informed early on about this then perhaps a more amicable compromise could have been reached through diplomatic and private sector channels without compromising our foreign policy.’ ”

The lack of coordination between and among different agencies is apparent even with the post-deportation statements being issued by various officials.

Ople thus appealed to the Aquino administration: “‘Speak with one voice, and deliver one clear and unified message.”‘ The NGO leader said that at this point, the government should simply refer all media inquiries about the Taiwan rift to the labor department, while making known the Philippines’ desire to reach out to the people of Taiwan and engage in talks about mutual cooperation in the fight against transnational crime.

END

I was born in the 60’s. I was too young to recall why an angry mob shooed the Beatles away from our airport but old enough to remember the soundtracks from such TV comedies as “M.A.S.H” and “Welcome Back, Kotter.” My father owned a blue Chevrolet Impala with a leather backseat big and wide enough to swallow me up. I imagined it as a spaceship, with its oversized built-in radio and a near-panoramic windshield. Soon enough, that car gave way to a succession of other vehicles – including a Ford Fierra that was so springy that my brothers and I had to hold on to something every time the tires hit a pothole.

My nieces and nephews don’t know any of these things – the Love Bus, music cartridges for car stereos, long-playing albums and 45 singles, Chocovim and Selecta fresh milk in bottles, foot-jumps and Chinese jackstones, Pepe Pimentel’s Kuwarta o Kahon, and a broadsheet known as the Daily Express. In that sense, I consider myself lucky because while these kids have technology on their side, the age group that I belong to has the context and content to go with it. At that time, our toys were either living creatures like spiders in a matchbox or inanimate objects that you need to push or drag around, or cut into pieces like clay. The music that we played had lyrics encased in complete sentences with commas and periods and not just telegraphic dashes and a sprinkling of Ahs and Ohs.

The simplicity of life then is worlds apart from the simplicity of life now. During my youth, it didn’t take a whole lot to make me smile, laugh, and giggle. Contentment was an ice cream cone bought at the sidewalk from our neighbourhood “sorbetero”. We walked to church for Sunday mass and came home with pan-de-coco in a brown bag. My brothers flew handmade kites called “boca-boca”. We owned two dogs, named Frito and Tootsie. My mother cooked our meals or decided what meals to serve. My father waited up for us when we were late in coming home. Our phones had dials; so did our television set.

Today, every television set in my townhouse has its matching remote control. All my music fit in a thumb-size IPOD shuffle. We use the Internet to check out movies to watch, and sometimes to order food for delivery. My daughter sends me an SMS when she’s out late at night, and vice-versa. My coffee is three-in-one, and my books are all on Kindle. My handwriting has gone bad but my typing skills would put a full-time administrative assistant to shame. Nowadays, contentment is an expensive fruity yoghurt sundae bought in a mall, in a tiny plastic cup.

If as a child, I’d been asked to describe the year 2011, I would have balked at such a challenge. Yet, here we all are. I am all grown up and expanding sideways with a daughter so wise and independent at the age of 25. I have more dogs than you have fingers. I never thought then that “broadband” would become one word and mean so much. We have face transplants, and liposuctions, and reality shows that depict it. They now give away houses and millions of pesos in a single game show that back in our time would just have the tallest refrigerator as a major door prize. I follow the news on Twitter, and meet friends on Facebook.

Looking back, it is no longer true that the only thing certain in life is death and taxes. The march of time is certain; it waits for no one yet we feel each step in our creaky joints, in the hazy glow of subdued memories. The kids out there would see 2011 emblazoned in the Starbucks planners that they worked hard to obtain, sticker by sticker. We, who are much older, see 2011 as an appreciation of life lived in a continuum, from birth to adulthood, from the dustbin of memories to the creation of new skills and experiences. It is amazing, this thing called life. No matter when lived and by whom, life is for us to either waste or nourish, regardless of what year it is.

Dear Readers, a new year is upon us. I wish you a year of contentment amid challenges and opportunities that would come your way. My father once said, “Pessimism is a state of mind but optimism is a strategy for living.” In my heart, I know that 2011 will be a good year for all of us. No matter how old or young you are, I pray that you open yourself to the best that this year has to offer. Happy New Year! (Send comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople.

Millions of Filipinos are barely hanging on financially because this was a tough year for many of us. Whoever described poverty as an accumulation of missed opportunities nailed the truth. Ours is a resilient, hardworking race. Unfortunately, the society we live in is divided into two worlds- “the haves” and “don’t-haves”. Rarely do these two worlds intersect. Except at Christmas.

Christmas is the season that unifies, harmonizes, and blends life streams into one single giving bloc of humanity. We are kinder at Christmas. We are more giving of ourselves at Christmas. We are more hopeful at Christmas. The inaccessible becomes accessible; the selfish becomes selfless; the sad becomes less sad; and people stingy with smiles, are more prone to curve their lips at the slightest prompting. This is why Christmas is the season that closes the year. Because no matter how horrific the entire year was for some people, love ends it beautifully through Christmas.

I remember growing up thinking that Christmas was always about gift-wrapped boxes and food galore. My work as an OFW advocate has tempered that belief a hundred-fold. Christmas is intrinsically about the celebration of faith and hope in mankind and the Divine Creator. Perhaps, it’s because the number of gifts one expects to receive as he or she grows older is in direct proportion to the number of friends and family still alive. Somehow, age does make for a more mellow understanding of how the world turns. In my prayers, I always say, “I lift everything up to you, Lord.” And I do. That simple line has given me my second wind during the most difficult times of my life. Faith is the perpetual gift of survival, and vice-versa.

Christmas is when the Lord looks at us from way up high with a twinkle in his eye and says, “Make me proud.” He knows that there is no better and more consistent time on earth than Christmas for us to gather together in His name to simply say, “Thank you, Lord.” No other time than now and no other message than that. Those who grumble about a less than joyous Christmas miss the point. This time it’s not about us – but all about Him. The best gift of all is to just being able to acknowledge Him in our lives.

Thus, the challenge is on how we can seek inspiration and aspiration from this golden season of love, peace, and charity. After all, Christmas comes only once a year. Here are some of my suggestions.

To the jobless multitudes out there who have more notices of disconnection than greeting cards in the mail, I say – keep the faith, stick close to family and friends, and do what you can to get the most smiles and laughter out of Christmas.

To the miserable wife, whose family is threatened by a spoiled, anonymous mistress, I say – give the other woman all the reasons to envy you this Christmas, because by doing so, you’ll be giving your man all the reasons to stay and never let go.

To the perpetually tired husband, struggling to keep the same lifestyle that the family has grown used to, I say – spend a full day doing something that makes you and you alone very, very happy because you deserve it as a solid provider all year long.

To children who belong to a broken home, I say – make this Christmas an occasion to make your siblings feel more loved than ever, and always know that whatever faults your parents have do not detract from your individual obligation to be good to yourself and to your siblings.

To the very rich and extremely famous, I say – make this Christmas not about you. Make it about the people who keep your households clean, your cars running, and your office a delight to go to. Humility must be the Christmas wreath on your door; and, generosity must be the song that you hum throughout the season.

To the overseas workers yearning for family and home, I say – transform Christmas into a season of surprises for your family. Mail them individual postcards; create a YouTube video with you singing a Christmas carol; team up with Internet shops that can deliver the most unexpected goodies like lechon on Christmas Day.

And to my readers, who have made Panorama Magazine their loyal Sunday companion, I say – think of all the blessings in your life and multiply that by a thousand – that exactly is what I wish for you this Christmas. Blessings to many to count, smiles by the minute, and a heart bursting with laughter and joy!

Christmas is what we make of it. And what we make of it defines who we truly are. Merry Christmas everyone! (Send comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople.

Kuala Lumpur – The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice jointly organized a three-day regional training on the protection of trafficking in persons victims and prosecution of offenders abroad in Malaysia on November 17-19.

I was invited as a resource person to give a presentation on the role of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center as a non-government organization that assists distressed Filipino workers particularly those trafficked to different countries. The audience was composed of 35 Philippine Embassy officials assigned in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member-countries. They comprised consular officers, labor attaches, welfare attaches, and assistance-to-nationals (ATN) officers. Representatives from the Philippine Embassy in Dili, the Philippine Consulates-General in Hong Kong and Manado plus the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei attended as well.

The training program designed by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking with help from the International Labor Organization was well-structured and relevant to the work of our foreign posts. Topics included the global context of human trafficking, detection and identification and evidence of trafficking, preparation of a sworn statement, treatment of victims including assistance and protection, and how to use a newly-developed database system for referral and action tailor-made to trafficking cases. A common thread in all discussions was the role of the Foreign Service in prevention, protection, and prosecution – the three pillars of an anti-trafficking campaign.

As part of the discussions on reintegration services, I briefed them about the Skills-UP! vocational scholarships offered by the Blas F. Ople Center to trafficking victims in partnership with the Manny Villar Foundation and Asian School for Hospitality Arts. We also discussed an ongoing case that involved a Singaporean national with the alias of Alfred Lim who has been charged in Malaysian court by two of our wards.

During the open forum, one of the consular officers asked why, despite all their hard work, they have not received the kind of acknowledgement and recognition that these frontline embassy personnel believe should be forthcoming. I told them that one of the things they have to contend with is that the government now has to share the stage with so many other non-state actors.

“You would have to be more aggressive and assertive in putting your message and information across.” This is also one of the reasons, I said, that government functionaries should understand why it is important to work closely with civil society groups. While government puts in the usual hours, its constituents are able to converse and exchange ideas in a parallel digital universe. “We have all these running conversations on Facebook, Twitter, and e-groups that very few of you are part of,” I stressed, adding that while bureaucrats need to maintain certain boundaries, private citizens are able to exercise free speech at will and with increasing velocity, thanks to cyberspace.

I learned a lot from the reports shared by representatives of different posts regarding the trafficking cases they have encountered. For example, the representative from the Philippine Embassy in Singapore cited a decrease in the number of Filipino women victims but noticed an increase in male victims especially in the case of Filipino fishermen who are being recruited from distant provinces to work illegally for fishing vessels in the high seas of Singapore. “They worked for two years at an average of 18 hours a day under abominable conditions with a monthly salary of $200, which they were able to claim at the end of two years,” the consular officer said. The fishermen were deployed by a travel agency based in Manila that despite several complaints, continue to operate.

A common source of concern was the growing involvement of Filipinos in the international drug trade. Consul General Raymond Balatbat of the Philippine Embassy in Brunei recounted the case of “M”, a Filipina who was arrested by the Narcotics Control Board for possessing 251 grams of heroin. She arrived in Brunei with her 2-year old son in tow. “M” averred that she did not know that the bag lent to her by a Malaysian friend contained illegal drugs. The court will hear her case next year while a Filipino couple known to the embassy looks after the suspect’s little boy. Here in Malaysia, around 15 Filipinos arrested for the possession of illegal drugs face the death penalty.

The problem of human trafficking and the involvement of Filipinos in the global drug trade shall continue as long as there are Filipinos who are not too wise and careful in making career choices and a slew of compatriots who see every worker’s dream as an opportunity to earn. In my visit to the Workers’ Welfare Center, I asked the wards why it was so easy for the recruiters to sell them empty promises. One of the wards said that it was her relative who recruited her. The others agreed. Several of them were recruited by someone that the family knew and trusted. To all overseas job applicants, I say please be careful.  For trafficking syndicates, money is always thicker than blood or friendship. (Send your comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople)

Dog lovers in Manila know the best place to have their canine sweethearts groomed, with paw nails clipped, body washed, and hair blow-dried to perfection. It is a place called Tiendesitas, a sprawling cacophony of shops that cater to foodies and pet owners in the fringes of Ortigas Avenue. One can find the most expensive pedigreed puppies there, from cuddly toy poodles to tall and sober-looking St. Bernard’s, with prices ranging from Php 9,000 to Php 32,000 depending on bloodlines and gender. Within the same complex, a dog lover can window shop for canine clothes, biscuits, canned food, toys, beds, and other accessories to make the pooch happy, and the pooch owner even happier.

Meanwhile, in the dark bowels of the city where flea-infested, smelly and famished dogs roam, new born babies are traded for much less than a pure-bred Japanese Akita or a true-blue Siberian Husky. Based on the research of the popular investigative show, “Imbestigador” helmed by veteran news anchor and broadcast journalist Mike Enriquez, the trafficking of babies is a growing social malady. A middle-aged woman served as a broker for unwanted infants – selling a male baby at Php 15,000 while female infants are priced higher at Php 20,000. Allegedly, the woman in question had already sold 15 babies, none of them hers. The woman earned from commissions for each transaction and was considered in her area the go-to person for mothers who wanted to get rid of their babies.

In Malaysia, a human trafficking syndicate that was busted in December 2009 yielded three one-day old baby girls including a baby born to a Filipino maid. The two other babies were born to two Indonesian women. The syndicate, according to the Malaysian police, has been operating for more than five years, and bought babies from women, mainly foreign maids, whose pregnancies were unwanted.

Based on news reports, the syndicate bought babies from foreign maids who were talked out of having abortions and given free healthcare during their pregnancy. The babies were sold between 15,000 to 20,000 ringgit ($4,400 to 5,900) each, while the women were paid 2,000 ringgit for their babies.

Unlike the trafficking of women and minors, the sale of infants is less prone to detection because the only victim who could say no, could not even say a word. This is why it is important to generate noise in their behalf, to legislate tougher laws against baby brokers, buyers and sellers, and to give information to authorities when someone you know engages in this sordid business.

The wheeling and dealing behind infant trafficking is done in secret, with transactions arranged in fast food chains and other public places, or at the home of the broker. The infant is the most vulnerable victim one can ever think of, and even if he or she ends up better-clothed and educated as a result of such secret transactions, the child grew up without even knowing who his or her biological parents are. Without even saying a word, the child’s identity has been stripped; and profit was made out of his or her innocence.

How can a mother sell her baby? Poverty. Survival. Thinking that the baby would be better off with people who can afford milk, diapers, clothes and a private education. Fear of reprisal from a husband back home due to an illicit affair that yielded an unwanted child. Certainly, there are places and institutions that such mothers can go to for help. But perhaps, we need to generate more awareness about where such havens are.

Our society has much ground to cover in enhancing child welfare and protection. Based on the 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey, one in three births in the Philippines is unplanned. Such unwanted births are more likely to occur among older women rather than younger ones. According to the Council for the Welfare of Children, around 30,000 to 50,000 children are displaced by armed conflict every year during the last 4 years.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated around 60,000 to 100,000 children in the Philippines have been victimized by prostitution rings. Who knows how many Filipino children are there in the world languishing without legal papers as products of illicit affairs?

In a country where unwanted babies are sold for far less than pedigreed dogs, we all need to understand that life cannot be led in isolation from the rest – the earning and educated elite must share the burden of living with the desperately poor and the incomprehensively sinful. The full weight of our collective failure as a society to protect and nurture these children will bear down on us like the Titanic – no one is spared the indictment of an unwanted infant’s steady gaze and mute cries for help. We need tougher laws and more convictions to eradicate the trafficking of infants. We also need a more nurturing environment for our children, and mothers driven to the point of desperation that even an infant has become an item to be traded and bargained away. (Send your comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople. My blog is www.susanople.com)

Jerwin Alcantara is a farmer from Jaen, Nueva Ecija. All his dreams in life were contained in a single document: his Philippine passport. Unused and hidden as one would a cherished belonging, Jerwin thought that his passport was the golden pass to a better life.

One day, two ladies went to his rustic barangay. They were recruiters in search of grape-pickers for Cyprus. Honey-tongued and urban-dressed, they were treated as celebrities, like game hosts about to proclaim the lucky winners. Except they were neither, and the job offers for Cyprus were non-existent. Jerwin was among those who fell for the scam. Worse, he used the family’s rice land as collateral for a loan to pay off the illegal recruiters. Unable to pay off his loan, the private lender had sold the family’s land leaving Jerwin and his brother to work as farm hands in a neighbor’s farm.

The Blas F. Ople Center, a non-profit organization named after my late father, has been helping Jerwin and his fellow victims after they filed the appropriate complaints with the National Bureau of Investigation. Sadly, the recruiters remain scot-free, and are said to be as honey-tongued and sassy as ever.

Jerwin and his brother, Jayveen, are among the 20 scholars of Skills Up!, a vocational training and scholarship program that we developed together with the Manny Villar Foundation and Asian School for Hospitality Arts for victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment. For three months, the two brothers are enrolled in a barista course where they would make gourmet coffee. From magsasaka to barista, Jerwin hopes to have sufficient skills and experience that would lead to having his passport marked for travel abroad as an overseas Filipino worker.

Thankfully, our partners for the Skills Up! project are genuine advocates for the welfare of our OFWs. Senator Manny Villar has lived up to his commitment to continue helping OFWs. He sent a team of professional counsellors and social workers to Hong Kong to provide free group therapy sessions to improve our workers’ coping mechanisms right after the disastrous Manila hostage taking-incident. Through his foundation, the good senator has agreed to sponsor the tuition fees and even board and lodging of our 20 scholars, most of whom, like the Alcantara brothers, have lost nearly everything as victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment.

Owned by Rico Trinidad and Badjie Guerrero-Trinidad, ASHA developed a special course tailor-made for our scholars that include motivational lectures to give them a nurturing and confidence-building environment. Scholars are made to choose between two courses: hotel housekeeping or baristas. ASHA commits to helping our trainees in job placement services after they graduate.

The Blas F. Ople Center also has the Microsoft Tulay program which provides free computer classes to overseas workers and their families. For ten days, our learners are taught how to use Word processing, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and Internet fundamentals. Under the Tulay program, we have seen our students blossom into computer-savvy individuals, regardless of age or educational attainment.

Case in point is the extremely shy but highly capable Teresa Labrador from Negros Oriental. She enrolled in the Tulay Program prodded by her progressive-minded employer, Irene Polancos, owner of G-Car Marketing Resources. Tere only reached up to Grade 6 and was employed as a kasambahay or household worker by the Polancos family. After completing the ten-day Microsoft Tulay course, Tere has found employment as an office worker in Selecta. She checks on the deliveries and provides assistance to customers and clients. Her occupational shift is but a start of a wider avenue of options.

Against this tapestry of real-life stories, I am amazed by the magnificence of change. I am enchanted with the twists and turns of a skill-driven life. I am in love with the concept that knowledge can and is transformational. My father was a dockhand at North Harbor. He became a Senate President and Secretary of Foreign Affairs. And he did it before he became known as an Ople. He was self-made, and throughout his life, he was skills-and knowledge-driven.

The magnificence of change is something that we must all strive to behold, because the ups and downs of life are replete with both questions and answers. We keep hearing about becoming agents of change. It isn’t truly difficult to be such an agent. All it needs is the desire to be a nurturing and caring person, or a nurturing and caring company.

When my family thought of forming the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, we didn’t have a clue about what we should be involved in and how. It’s like driving at night, your headlights can only light up part of the way. God lights up the rest.

If you believe that with all your heart, then you can see clearly and know intimately how change can be magnificent and resplendent with fulfilment and joy. We all have our road bumps. It is up to us to change lanes and move forward. (Send your comments to toots.ople@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter via www.twitter.com/susanople. Visit my blog: www.susanople.com)