Ain't it shameful?

In our rally last Sunday, there was this guy who watched on the sidelines while OFWs assembled for the march. Someone approached him and gave him some materials on the issue then I overheard them talking:

Guy: "Hindi ba kayo nahihiya at dito pa kayo nagra-rally na kitang-kita ng ibang mga lahi?"

OFW: "Bakit naman kami mahihiya kung karapatan namin ang nakataya?"

Fantastic answer to a stupid question. (Incidentally, upon further probing, she found out that the guy was from the Philippine military and refused to answer when asked why he was there.)

I got to think of this while reading the running account of the Senate hearing on the US$329.5 million NBN-ZTE scandal. The magnitude of corruption, bribery and political maneuvers involved is just astounding. Garapalan! To hear that a 20% cut from public contracts is the "norm" makes me want to puke especially when one considers that there are the Marianettas who die of poverty.

Ain't it more shameful?

Then there are the news of more abduction of activists in Central Luzon and in the Visayas. Recent victims included the vice chairperson of the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid ng Gitnang Luson (AMGL) and a leader of the Central Luzon Aetas Association. I remember last year when we interviewed six teens whose activist parents have been forcibly disappeared by military elements and have not yet been surfaced - the pain, the anger and the hunger for justice were already in their young hearts and minds.

Almost 900 people - many were activist peasants, workers, women, lawyers, churchpeople, students, journalists - have been victims of extra-judicial killings and more than 200 have been forcibly disappeared since GMA assumed power in 2001. Nobody has been convicted and no justice has been done.

Ain't it more shameful?

And then there is this letter I received last night from an OFW who helps us a lot when we have welfare cases in Kuwait (excerpt):

Roberto Panganiban was a typical OFW. He went to work in Dubai in order to provide the best for his family. During his long years of work abroad, cancer, unfortunately, struck and forced him to go back to the Philippines. As a paying OWWA member, he approached the government body but was refused assistance because accordingly, cancer is not among those covered by the OWWA insurance. Sadly, Roberto succumbed to cancer very recently without help coming from the government. Francis Oca of Riyadh wrote to the OWWA head and even to President GMA last September 2007 after Roberto exposed his case over to the Filipino cyber community. Despite those letters, no help was given to Roberto!

Ain't it more shameful?


Ain't she more shameful?


If I was not busy taking videos that time, I would have given that guy a tongue-lashing: "Isn't it shameful that you stand here asking us to be ashamed?"

This is not me ranting. This is me enraged and unashamed.