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COMMENTARIES Our final tally was $14,600 By
CHITO PEREZ I submitted to Westpac last week (today's date is February 10, 2008) all the receipts that my colleagues at Westpac sent to me after they made their donation to GK via credit card through the City to Surf website. This amounted to around $3,500. Westpac will pay this electronically directly to the GK bank account towards the end of March 2008. I was targetting to raise $32,000 (which represented $1 for every step that Pilar and I would have taken for the course. Unfortunately I only raised around $14,600. I missed out the $10,000 prize to the charity of the individual that raised the most at the event. I think I only finished in 4th place. With the exception of Westpac's $3,500 donation, all the other monies should have been credited to the GK bank account, as these donations were paid via credit card of the individual donor. This is broken down as follows: 1. Westpac Bank Matching Gifts Program (24%) - $3,500 (although the total donations given by Westpac employees was around $5,000, I was only sent $3,500 worth of receipts by these employees. I'm not sure if they would have claimed their donation directly themselves from the Westpac Matching Gifts Program separately.) 2. Ateneo Alumni members (11%) - $1,600 3. My friends at Westpac (34%) - $5,000 4. My other friends and relatives and friends of friends (31%) - $4,500 (including my relatives and friends overseas). The Ateneo Alumni donation comprised 12 individual credit card donations broken down as follows: Chito Perez - $500, Ateneo Alumni - $300 (from Kate Andres); Perry Cecilio - $150, Kate Andres - $100, Ronnie Dizon - $100, Vangie Leones - $100; Jimmy Pimentel - $100, Mario Almario - $50, Mike Armea - $50, Jomark Sto Domingo - $50, Obet Dionisio - $25, Clara Suasin - $25. Thus in summary (count amount percentage): AAA donations (12) $1,600 (11%), donations from non AAA members (174) $13,000 89%. Total (186) $14,600 (100%). I think the reason there was no recognition of the AAA contribution at the last presentation by GK (with Tony Meloto) is because GK did not know how much was donated by AAA. The above breakdown should clarify this and all the other well-meaning questions that were being asked. This year, Mike Armea is heading the Fund Raising Committee and with the enthusiasm I've seen from him, I'm sure he'll beat any other previous fund raising targets we've had in the past. We will raise funds for GK and other worthy causes, subject to the board's approval. In last year's event, only 12 members donated funds to GK. This represented 15% of our members. If we are to financially help the less fortunate this year, we will all need to pitch in, as our individual circumstances dictate. # _______________________________________ Lest
we forget. I will remember him I marched in the rain at the Anzac Day parade in Sydney on Wednesday, April 25. I marched for my uncle, Lieutenant Luis G Pimentel, Philippine Army, who died as a prisoner of war after the fall of Bataan in 1942. He was captured by the invading Japanese army in the jungle battlefield of Bataan and, with a body weakened by dysentery, survived the Death March to Capas 100 kilometres away, and there, while forced to pull broken army tanks off the road, he reportedly died without me ever knowing. Luis was barely 21 ~ a cadet officer at the Ateneo de Manila, a handsome leading actor of the college players' guild and a varsity football player ~ when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and General Douglas MacArthur issued a call to arms. The last time I saw my uncle, he had stopped by our home in full battle uniform during an air raid to see we were safe. We lived just across Manila Bay from Bataan, where he would soon go to fight off the invading Japanese marines. There, the Philippine and US armies would surprise the world by absorbing the Japanese onslaught for three horrible months with outnumbered battalions while Singapore, shielded by the mighty British fleet, fell within weeks. I had just turned seven, and did not fully appreciate what my uncle was doing for me. He marched into hell for my freedom. My uncle was not alone, though. Many more patriots had put their lives on the line so that we may live in a free society and enjoy the fruits of our efforts. Their heroic deeds must never be forgotten. In our adopted home of Australia, the celebration of Anzac Day is one day of the year ~ one day ~ when we can reflect on what we have today because of what my uncle Luis and those brave men and women did for us. When I was asked last Wednesday if I wanted to ride on a Land Rover troop carrier at the head of our marching contingent, my first thought was about Lieutenant Luis G Pimentel: I thought of how he had marched, perhaps bare-footed, more than 100 kilometres in constant pain of crippling dysentery, as a price for my freedom. ''No thank you,'' I said finally to the generous offer. And I thought: Marching one-and-a-half kilometres across Sydney streets is nothing compared to what my uncle went through. Lest we forget. I will remember him. # _______________________________________
From
the president's desk
Greetings to All. Firstly, let me thank and commend our former president, Jaime Pimentel, for the initiative, time and effort in putting up this new Ateneo Alumni Australia website. Ateneo Alumni Australia came into being 11 years ago, upon the prodding of then Philippine Consul General in Sydney, Ariel Abadilla, himself a blue-blooded Eagle, with Cesar Bigornia spearheading. The objective was to connect and bring together alumni and all those who went to Ateneo or Jesuit schools and are now residing in Australia, particularly New South Wales. Our initial number was too small to gain recognition but we made our presence felt through the UAAP-NCAA games in bowling and golf. The games drew a very good response and they are continuing. We are a group deeply connected by enduring bonds of respect and friendship forged at school grounds, and I urge every one to foster that relationship. However, let's also connect closely with the community and try to make a positive impact. Let's create a intellectual mosaic where ideas and ideals converge. Through this website, we hope to build an extraordinary network and encourage participation and involvement not only in our own community but in mainstream Australia. True to the blue-and-white spirit, let's make a significant headway and be counted. # ______________________________________ About
our beautiful Filipina
Our girls are driven to this because they want to survive, and they want their families to survive. When they are destitute, this seems to be the only way to survival. When an ocean liner drops anchor off the coast of Batangas, our girls go out to the great ship in little boats, outriggers. As they approach the vessel, the sailors blossom on the deck, looking down at them over the ship's railing, choosing the girls they want. These are called: "the English speaking men." The ship drops a rope ladder. The girls climb up the ladder, onto the deck. It is called: "Akyat Barko". They are guided to the cabin or cubicle of the men who chose them, and there they stay for the night. They are paid for this, in dollars. In the morning the outriggers come back, and the girls are ferried to their little shacks along the shore. The pay is high. But the incidence of HIV or AIDS is also high. And if the girl conceives, she is left with her baby, alone, with no support. All that is left to her is shame, humiliation, and the terrible feeling that she has lost all human dignity. Another form of human trafficking is called "Mail Order Brides." In Europe they are called: "Catalogue Brides." They really have catalogues, with a picture of the girl and a description of all the qualities that make her desirable: the colour of her skin, her hair, her eyes; her height and weight. The European catalogues praise our girls as beautiful, hard working, responsible, strong willed, intelligent, very docile, very submissive, willing to do anything that will please. Our girls accept this position, so that they can send money home to their families. In our big cities, the girls become Guest Relation Officers, in the bars. If it is only to be a companion to the customer, in the bar, they are paid by the hour. And if they can persuade the customer to buy them ladies' drinks, they receive a commission for each drink. If the customer takes them upstairs to the cubicles prepared for this, there is a set price. If the customer wants to take the girl out of the bar, to a different place, the price is higher. The most miserable of the girls are those who are trapped in the brothels. Sometimes they are studied through one way glass, mostly by foreigners, and chosen for a one night stand, or a two night stand, or a three night stand, in a hotel. In the cheaper red houses, they are all called down when customers appear, so that each man can choose the girl he wants. It is par for the course when they serve ten to fifteen customers in one night. It is customary to look down on these poor girls as "fallen women". But as Sister Soledad Perpian, R.G.S. says so well, they are not fallen. They were pushed, pushed by poverty, or by brute force. In the homes that Sister Soledad has set up to rescue girls from this sordid industry, almost half are teen age children who have been raped, or who have suffered incest in their own homes, from their fathers, or from their stepfathers, or from some remote relative. And the psychology of the Filipina is this: once she has been de-virginized, she feels that she is shamed forever. She feels that she is a shattered glass. There is no more hope. It doesn't matter what happens after that. Yet this child has not sinned! She has only been sinned against! The rage at the moment is cybersex sexual activity on the internet. Actually it is a worldwide ten billion dollar industry. But the Philippines is considered the cybersex capital, victimizing minor girls. In Manila, in the college belt, it is called "Prostitution." Because most of the poor girls who are trapped into it need the money to pay their tuition, in order to go to school. They want to graduate from college, so that they can get a decent job. And they feel it is not as bad as prostitution, because they are not being touched by anyone. Basically, they strip and perform whatever sexual acts the customer wants to see. Though, quite often, they are asked to have sex with a male partner. It is hard for any legal authority to control this, because there are no laws against the internet. The most they can be accused of is: acts of lasciviousness. This whole wretched industry of human trafficking must stop! We can no longer bury our head in the sand, like an ostrich, and pretend that it isn't there. We can not pretend that it is not a curse, a disgrace to this nation. We can not pretend that it is not a shame, a humiliation, an insult to each one of us. We fly a Filipino flag. We speak with some pride of being loyal to our country. But the country is not only the land, the sea, the mountains, the trees, the cities and towns. Our country is our people! The most beautiful gift that God has given us is each other! It is patriotism to die for the country from gunfire, on a mountain top, like Gregorio del Pilar. But it is also patriotism to live for our people! We should defend our territory, but more than that, we should defend our children, our girls, our women! If we stand by, and watch them being sold for money, it is sheer, unadulterated cowardice. It means that we think money is more important than those we love. We can not stop human trafficking by passing laws from on high. Our government officials are notoriously corrupt. Our military, and police, are hungry for money. They do not block human trafficking. They promote it. The defence must come from the ground up. It must start in the heart of each one of us. It must start in the heart of every mother, while her daughter is still a baby. The Beautiful Filipina (con't from page 2) It must start in the heart of every teacher, even if she is teaching nursery and kindergarten. It must start in the heart of every father, of every man. It is our obligation before God. And we owe it to each other. We have been shamed and humiliated long enough. Now we must stand up. And stand tall. We go to great lengths to preserve our ancient landmarks, because we are proud of our culture. We preserve the city walls, the magnificent old Spanish cathedrals, the lovely old houses with their narra floors and capiz windows and lofty ceilings, the amazing rice terraces of the north. But the treasure of our nation is not the city wall, or the old cathedral, or the lovely home, or the rice terraces. Our most precious possessions and these we must defend, at all costs are our children, our girls, our women ~ the beautiful Filipina. #
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Prostitution,
in the Philippines, takes many forms. But they all have one common root:
poverty.