eyes wide open 1.0

The Human Face of Charity
By Eric S. Caruncho
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:10:00 08/22/2009

Filed Under: Charity, Government, Poverty, Health
IN SEPTEMBER this year, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) will mark its 75th year of service with commemorative projects that pay tribute to its milestones and achievements.

One of these projects is “75 Stories, 75 Writers,” a coffee-table book that puts a human face on the organization’s often anonymous charity work. Created by Sipat Publications, the book sprang from PCSO General Manager Rosario M. Uriarte’s idea of telling the stories of individual beneficiaries.

The stories themselves range from inspirational feats of individual persistence, to heart-breaking struggles of parent and child against debilitating illness, to the joys and fears of senior citizens in Golden Acres; from fictional cautionary tales of winning the sweepstakes, to hilarious short stories on nurturing one’s favorite lotto numbers.

Seventy-five writers from print and broadcast media, theater, film, the academe, and the corporate world were asked to contribute stories in a variety of prose, poetry, and journalistic formats.

The stories are complemented by compelling photographs by some of the country’s best lensmen.

The book’s introduction is written by award-winning poet Marjorie Evasco. Editors for the book are Arnold Molina Azurin and Marla Garin-Alvarez for contributions in English, and Donato Mejia Alvarez, Luna Sicat-Cleto and Romulo Baquiran Jr. for contributions in Filipino.

Among the contributing writers are Celina Cristobal, Eric Caruncho, Jocelyn de Jesus, Margarita Gomez, Luann Fuentes, Alcuin Papa, Marvin Benaning, and Veronica Uy, as well as columnists Ambeth Ocampo and Butch Hilario.

Literary contributors are poets Ed Maranan, Rogelio Mangahas, Krip Yuson, Gemino H. Abad, Joel Toledo, and Vim Nadera; novelist Mario Miclat, playwrights Reuel Molina Aguila and Nick Pichay and poet/scriptwriter Jerry Gracio; and Balagtasan stalwarts Teo Antonio and Mike Coroza.

Among the contributing photographers are Joan Bondoc, Alex Baluyut, Fernando Sepe, Sonny Yabao, Jes Aznar, Gari Buenavista and Erik Liongoren.

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/sim/sim/view/20090822-221548/The-Human-Face-of-Charity

I met her more than once. On the outside, she was a perfect frame of beauty. But her gaze speaks a long story of bitterness. Of suffering that she endured for decades.

She was Luisita, the venerable hacienda owned by the powerful and influential Cojuangco clan where former president Cory Aquino is part of. It was hailed once as Asia’s largest sugar plantation, and the nation’s symbol of the old feudal system.  There were several other haciendas in the country but Luisita stands out as the most distinct of all land disputes.

The recent death of the former president prompted me to once again set foot on this bitter land. I was struck by the deafening silence. A stark contrast of scenery between Manila’s noise about her death and the ironic silence in her own backyard. As if all the tears has run dry. As I have been witness to the sea of tears and emotion flowing in the nation’s capital, I too was a witness during those infamous days in November 2004 where thousands of farm workers shed their tears for the 7 farmers that were killed because they were hungry.

This is a photo story about the Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac that I produced way back in 2004 to 2006.  I always wanted to go back to the hacienda and see old friends and familiar faces but was hindered by so many things. One of those was my own safety. Now, after three years, I finally went back after taking an assignment to shoot the wake and funeral of the former president, whose family owns the land. I remember way back in 2005 where the farmers, after suffering many more deaths pursuing their cause,  finally got their victory and got their rights back to work on the land.  The scene hasn’t changed that much. Years past, the government acquired most of the land to build a freeway, sugarcane crops were replaced by rice fields, and most of the prominent structures like the mill and layers of check points  still stand. Poverty is still there. Well, as for me, Luisita still stands as one of my cornerstone in pursing a long term photographic story on land and land reform here in our old feudal country.

More of this story: Aslam

Extreme poverty, lack of opportunities, and conflict. These are mostly the reasons why more and more Filipinos from the countryside migrate to cities and urban centers to grab a chance to get a better life. The Philippine’s urban area is already 52 percent of its total land area. Half the country’s 86 million population today live in urban areas. And the urban settlers, almost one in every four, or 22 percent, live below the poverty threshold. The government estimates that about 68 percent of the country’s population would be liveing in urban areas by 2015, as more rural folk migrate to cities to look for work. Without decent jobs, more urban poor settlers will make more crevices and spaces under bridges, riverbanks, and other public infrastructures to build their homes.