Petition against pesticide spraying in the Southern Philippines

Nina at ForwardPilipinas.org sent this message about the effects of pesticide spraying in the Southern Philippines. We can support the ban by signing the online petition at www.dirtybananas.org.

Communities (around 40,000 people) living within banana plantations in Davao, Mindanao, Southern Philippines have been subjected to regular aerial spraying of pesticides for years, suffering from acute effects such as skin rashes, nausea and stomach cramps. In February, after an imaginative well-coordinated campaign, the City Government of Davao passed an ordinance to ban aerial spraying of pesticides.

What I love about this story is that Lia, my good friend and former boss, coordinated a perfect campaign. It primarily involved working with the affected communties, educating and organising them, so that they would be empowered to articulate their concerns and policy solutions to the government. Other stratgeies involved networking and coalition-building to gain broad support throughout the city, even from those who were not immediately affected. They set up an organic growers market as a means of linking poor rural producers to city-based consumers, and to showcase alternatives to pesticide use. The community, with support from the NGOs, regularly lobbied the local council and mayor, and engaged the bureaucracy to push for tighter regulation and environmental monitoring. The end result was Ordinance 0309-07 banning aerial spraying of pesticides. It was a triumph of democratic governance for the protection of people’s health and the environment 🙂

Unfortunately, the plantation companies did not accept this asked the Court of Appeals to invalidate the ordinance, which it did. Now, the communities have filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking it to reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals. They are waiting for this the verdict; whatever the decision it will have a tremendous impact on their lives.

It’s rare to have these inspiring stories of “powerless” communities influencing government to actually work for them. So, please please do demonstrate support for their efforts by signing the online petition at www.dirtybananas.org.

Barrio Fiesta sa London 2008 rescheduled to 13th and 14th Sept

The Philippine Centre confirms the new date for Barrio Fiesta sa London 2008:

The meeting [of the Health and Safety Working group] agreed to offer Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th September as an alternative date for the Philippine Centre to hold the 24th annual Barrio Fiesta sa London in Lampton park Hounslow, Middlesex.

Barrio Fiesta cancelled

Lots of people have asked if the rumours are true that this year’s Barrio Fiesta has been cancelled. The Philippine Centre, organisers of the Barrio Fiesta released a statement giving their answer and background:

Barrio Fiesta not going ahead

Due to concerns regarding the health and safety of the Fiesta attendees, the London Borough of Hounslow (as represented by John Laing Integrated Services) has declined to issue a licence for the Barrio Fiesta…

London Calling: Jose Rizal

FOWARD-UK celebrated Philippine Independence Day and the life of Rizal at his old haunts in London, Sunday 15th June. FORWARD-UK or Filipinos Overseas Working to Advance Reform Democracy and Development, is a London-based organisation of Filipinos who would like to take an active part in the life of the Philippines nation even whilst living oceans away. “London Calling: Jose Rizal” re-traced the steps of Rizal as he arrived in the capital, and explored the commonalities between his experience and those of young Filipinos studying in the UK.
In commemoration of Rizal’s birthday (19th June 1861) and Philippine Independence Day (12th June 1898), participants toured Primrose Hill, where Rizal lived from June 1888 until March 1889. Number 37 Chalcot Crescent is marked with a blue plaque, commonly seen on historic buildings in London to celebrate great figures of the past and the buildings that they inhabited. Erected in 1983, his plaque reads: “Dr José Rizal (1861-1896), Writer and National Hero of the Philippines, lived here”.

During the tour, excerpts from Rizal’s letters and writings completed in London were read. The letters give a clear picture of his life in London, including both loves (Gertrude “Tottie” Beckett, daughter of his landlord) and gripes (“Sundays are very boring”!). Rizal regularly visited the reading room of the British Museum, where he annotated Antonio Morga’s Sucesos delas Islas Filipinas. Rizal was researching the pre-colonial past of Filipinos, searching for our identity as a people before the Spaniards came. His letter to the women of Malolos in support of their demand to set up a night school to learn Spanish, urged women to play a larger role in society and put forward the ideas of equality, human rights and the supremacy of reason.

Final stop was Primrose Hill park where the tour was rounded off with a reading of the inspiring writing “The Philippines a Century Hence”. Of particular resonance was the passage: “We said and once more we repeat, and all will ever assert, that reforms, which have a palliative character, are not only ineffectual but even prejudicial when the government is confronted with evils that must be cured radically”. Participants’ were then tested with the Rizal “pub quiz”, containing questions on the facts and and myths (Jose Rizal was Jack the Ripper!) surrounding our national hero. A picnic and lively discussions on what Filipinos overseas can do for the Philippines ensued. “Rizal looked clearly into the Philippines’ future and stated the need for true reforms. This remains true today. More than sending back remitances, we need to think how we can be more like Rizal and use our skills and knowledge to affect reforms in the Philippines”, commented Carla Montemayor of FORWARD-UK. In 2007, remittances accounted for just over 10 percent of the Philippine GDP(1); Only six percent of Filipino overseas workers registered to to vote in the 2007 senatorial and partylist elections (2).

For more information about FORWARD-UK visit www.forwardpilipinas.org (soon to go live!)

(1) http://www.unescap.org/survey2007/notes/philippines.asp
(2) http://www.gmanews.tv/story/38702/PCIJ-Low-registration-afflicts-overseas-absentee-voting

Vote for the New 7 Wonders of Nature candidates

Graeme, a reader and new member of Phil-UK Network, wants us to spread the word about the Philippines’ entries in the New 7 Wonders of the World.

I was just checking out the New 7 Wonders of the World
web site and saw that Tubuttaha Reef is now number 2 in the list. Also,
Puerto Princesa National Park is now at number 6. This is great because it
means that the word is getting out to the pinoy community here and in other
countries and that people are showing they care about their heritage.

But what it really means is that these site could get upgraded by the UN and
the people who determine World Heritage Sites and that can mean that more
funding goes into the conservation effort for these places.

Currently The Philippines occupies four of the top ten candidates with:

  • Tubbataha Reef
  • Chocolate Hills
  • Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park
  • Mayon Volcano

You can track the progress of the candidates and vote at the New 7 Wonders of Nature Nominees website.

Having even one winning entry would be great for tourism and—fingers crossed—conservation in the Philippines. Visit the New 7 Wonders of Nature website to find out more about the campaign.

Philippine Generations lecture on Filipino cuisine

Philippine Generations has organised a lecture on Filipino cuisine.

Philippine Generations in partnership with Asia House is proud to present the first lecture on Filipino Cuisine in London. Discover the difference between Chow Mein and Pancit, Lumpia and Spring rolls, and how the food has changed over the years to the present day.

Philippine Generations, created by a small number of young volunteers to raise awareness of the Philippines, its people and culture has teamed up with Asia House, a charity for the promotion of Asia by bringing the owner of the no.1 Filipino Restaurant in America, Cendrillion, Amy Besa, the author of the award winning cook book, ‘Memories of a Philippine Kitchen’ to give a lecture on the History of Philippine Cuisine.

Celebrate the culture and food that raised the Pearl of the Orient on the 19th June, Asia House, New Cavendish Street.

Please visit the Philippine Generations website for more details.

Hoax email warning and site messages

How should this site evolve?

Thanks to all those who have signed up to Phil-UK network directory. The idea is to create a space where people can publicise their group, company, or event. At the same time, I don’t want this site being a source of junk mail.

There’s obviously a fine line between filtering what people want to say and preventing unwanted messages. Since this is a community site, I’ll leave it up to you to decide. Drop me a note with your opinion about the kind of content that should appear, and how it should reach you. For now, the group messaging feature is disabled but you can still add information to your own profile page.

Hoax email warning

On a similar but unrelated related vein, remember to treat all email you receive (from anyone, not just this site) with slight suspicion. Also be sure to keep your email accounts secure. A friend recently had her Yahoo email account hacked. The hacker then sent a message to her entire contact list asking to borrow money. As you can see from the copy below, the email, containing relevant and personal information, is convincing enough to dupe an unwitting loved-one. Of course, a bit of common sense goes a long way.

Some basic computer security tips:

  1. Use secure passwords for your online accounts
  2. Don’t login to your email in internet cafes; the computer may be infected with a program to steal passwords
  3. Change your passwords once in a while
  4. Regularly run anti-virus programs on your own computer
  5. Keep backups of your important emails, files and contacts
  6. Don’t trust anything you receive from the internet

Copy of the hoax email:

“How are you? Hope everything is ok? i wanted to seek your favour on something very important. Something terrible happened to me. I had a trip to United Kingdom on some works.

Unfortunately for me all my money got stolen at the hotel where i lodged along with all my belongings also with my return ticket. Since then i have been without any money,i am even owing the hotel. I only have access to my e-mail for now because i didn’t bring my mobile here.

Please i need you to lend me about 1650G.B.Pounds so i can make arrangements and return back home. I have spoken to the embassy and they are responding to the matter effectively. I have also reported the case to the police.

I have also made enquiries and was able to find out that you can have money sent to me through a service called Western Union Money Transfer.

Below is the information you might require in sending me some money.

Name: XXX XXX

Address: XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX.

Once you have made the transfer,please send me the details on the receipt you will get including a 10digit number called the MTCN number, because i was told without that i won’t be able to receive the money.I will make all refunds to you as soon as am out of here.

Please i will be waiting to hear from you as soon as possible.

Regards..

XXX”

Work experience for a TV production company

A London-based TV production company wants two fluent Filipino speakers to transcribe footage filmed in the Philippines. The position is available immediately until mid June. This is an unpaid work experience placement but they’ll cover travel expenses.

You’ll see the editing process within a small production company and get the chance to explore other departments. This should be great for your CV if you’d like to break into the industry.

Get in touch ASAP if you’re interested and I’ll send you more information.

Watch ‘Between Two Cultures’ online

The BBC’s ‘Meet the Immigrants’ episode featuring Filipino domestic workers seemed to generate lots if interest. I thought it would be a good time to follow it up buy uploading ‘Between Two Cultures’, a short video documentary filmed by two members of Phil-UK back in 2000.

It’s a 12 minute video documentary about two Filipinas: a student who grew up in the UK, and a nanny working to support her family in the Philippines.

For more information, and to watch the video, head to the Between Two Cultures page.

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