The Philippine Online Chronicles

The country screamed “Mayday!” right in the fifth month of 2009, as the biggest global threat of that time reached Philippine soil. A scandal of unprecedented impact exploded as well, raising questions about sexual privacy and  abuse of women, while violence and militarization continued to threaten Mindanao.

Before these big issues appeared, however, the very first day of the month was typically greeted by protest rallies that demanded fair wages and justice for Filipino workers. Beyond the rallies, a gloomier reality than unfair wages and working conditions struck the consciousness of the populace.

A “job fair(ytale)?”

On Labor Day, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) held what it dubbed as “Jobapalooza 2009: Tayo Na! Trabaho Na!” (“Come on! Let's work!”) held in major malls nationwide. According to the Manila Bulletin, there were 225,000 jobs offered in the Labor Day job fair, mostly coming from the Business Process Outsourcing industry, which  is comprised of call center and customer service jobs.

However, the 225,000 jobs offered at the Jobapalooza seemed to be just a minute relief for the country's unemployment rate, which, according to a Social Weather Stations survey released on 13 May 2009, reached 34.2 percent (an estimated 14 million unemployed adults), a seven percent balloon from the unemployment rate in the last quarter of 2008. According to an inquirer.net report on the said survey, “13 percent (of the unemployed) voluntarily left their old jobs, while 12 percent were retrenched—nine percent who were laid off and three percent whose contracts expired and were not renewed.”

With this data, progressive labor groups in the May 1 rally questioned the effectiveness of the Jobapalooza in alleviating the country's burgeoning unemployment rate. In what the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (Unity of Filipino Workers) dubbed as a “job fairytale,” Jobapalooza “does not end happily ever after” as “the country needs a major surgery and not band aid solutions” in alleviating unemployment, according to the militant labor center.

Big victories

The first week of May saw victories that have drawn cheers among Filipinos.

First was Manny Pacquiao's sensational second-round stoppage of British world champion Ricky Hatton on May 4 in Las Vegas. A crunchy left hook to Hatton's chin knocked the cocky Briton to the canvas as the “Pambansang Kamao” (“National Fist”) achieved his sixth world title.

Two days after Pacquiao's victory, Filipina beauty April Love Jordan was crowned Beauty of the World in the World Beauty Congress International Beauty and Model Festival in Kunming, China. As such, Jordan, a Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila scholar, became the latest addition to the list of Filipina winners of international beauty pageants.

Blowing the whistle

At the height of the sudden arrest and detention of NBN-ZTE scandal whistleblower Jun Lozada, another whistleblower emerged to expose the alleged anomalies regarding the Balikatan US-RP military exercises in Mindanao.

Bemedalled Lieutenant Senior Grade Nancy Gadian of the Philippine Navy blasted the alleged corruption of the P40 million Balikatan funds by retired Lieutenant General Eugenio Cedo of the Western Mindanao Command.

Gadian also questioned the said military exercises in her affidavit submitted to the Senate, a copy of which was furnished to this writer.

Gadian revealed in her affidavit that after the 2001-2002 Balikatan exercises that “the US troops stayed and established a permanent and continuous presence in Mindanao,” details of which she further  elaborated. Gadian also added that the “Philippine Government does not monitor the deployment and movement of troops in Southern Mindanao” and that US troops used intelligence equipment to “track down locations of target enemies (particularly the Abu Sayyaf and Muslim secessionist groups”--a function that is not included in a joint military training exercise.

Lastly, Gadian slammed the “arrogant, high-handed, and imperious behavior” of the American soldiers, saying that they treat Filipino soldiers as their “servants.”

“On the whole, their assertions of power and authority appear like they rule over us and the country,” Gadian concluded  in her affidavit.

Violence in Mindanao

Three separate violent incidents rocked Mindanao in the third week of May.

Two governors barely survived assassination attempts. First to have escaped was Sulu Governor Abdulsakur Tan on May 14 while Maguindanao Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., now a suspect in the Maguindanao Massacre,  likewise survived a bomb attack the following day.

Meanwhile, on May 18 the Abu Sayyaf beheaded hostage Doroteo Gonzales in Basilan, after his family failed to pay P500,000 in ransom.

Fatal disasters

Two natural calamities rocked the country last May and accounted for scores of fatalities.

First was Typhoon Emong, which uncharacteristically stormed Luzon in the height of the summer season, taking at least 60 lives.

In Compostela Valley, 16 people were confirmed dead in a landslide that struck the Boringot mining community in Pantukan last May 18.

Five days later, 12 passengers were killed as a motorized skipper of the Ilagan Shipping Lines capsized along the coast between Batangas and Puerto Galera. The small skipper was reported to have carried 60 people, adding another casualty to the list of capsized overloaded vessels.

Swine flu enters RP

A month after the outbreak of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus in Mexico, the Department of Health confirmed the first case of swine flu in the Philippines last May 18, courtesy of a ten-year-old girl who returned from a US trip.

The following week saw five more cases of swine flu in the country for the month of May as the postponement of the opening of classes in the first week of June was sought as a result of the confirmed cases that mainly victimized children.

The swine flu outbreak would later infect thousands of Filipinos in the following months.

Katrina got punk'd

The showbiz scandal of the year also unfolded in the month of May.

A naughty video sprouted like mushrooms everywhere in the cyberworld, with a popular TV actress engaging in an erotic dance with a similarly famous beauty doctor to the tune of George Michael's “Careless Whisper.”

The second sequence of the clip then saw the couple engaging in intimate relations in an undisclosed location.

The subjects, Dr. Hayden Kho Jr. and Katrina Halili were put instantly in the spotlight, their sex video becoming a staple on popular porn websites.

Halili immediately reacted by filing a criminal suit against Kho, claiming that the video was made without her consent and that Kho breached her privacy and maligned her dignity.

Kho immediately denied Halili's charges, saying that he did not spread the video on the Internet and that Halili was even the one who set up the video camera before they had sexual intercourse.

A handful of sex videos of Kho with other famous celebrities like Maricar Reyes would later surface.

Violence mars rally anew

The month ended with a bang, as scores of farmers and supporters were arrested and violently dispersed by Quezon City policemen in a protest rally inside the Batasang Pambansa complex last May 26.

The farmers coming from Calatagan, Sumilao, and the Bondok Peninsula demanded for the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and the legislation of CARP with Reforms Bill (CARPER).

The farmers successfully barged into the South Gate of the Batasan Complex and immediately held a program at the driveway of the South Wing Building where they were subsequently arrested by the cops. The farmers who were not able to enter were greeted by a water cannon blast which violently dispersed the rallyists, which included Manila Auxiliary Bishop Roderick Pabillo.

Photos:

“40/365: Scream” by H. Pants Explosion, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved.

“gloria macapagal arroyo” by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved.

“i wish i was hayden kho” by dyekoy, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved.

Mobilization photo c/o of Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan. Used with permission, some rights reserved.

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