By YOLANDA  L. PUNSALAN

Susan V. Entong was 11 years old when her drunken father threw a kerosene lamp at her, burning her face and body.

For three years, she suffered from festering wounds because hospitals in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental where she lived refused to give her complete medical treatment. She was given a new lease of life when the International Care Ministries (ICM) took her in their custody. 

Entong was flown to Seattle, Washington in the US for reconstructive surgery in 2005 where she stayed for 11 months with an ICM host family.  In 2007,  she returned to the US for follow-up procedures.

Now 22 years old, Entong is an incoming senior high school student this June.  She wants to be a nurse or a social worker someday simply because she feels inspired to serve the less fortunate like herself.

Entong is just one of the more than 100,000 destitute people whose lives have been transformed by the ICM, a charity organization that has been serving the poor communities in the country since 1992.

The ICM is a registered non-profit organization in the Philippines, Hong Kong and the US  that collaborates with the Global Development Group in Australia and Stewardship in the UK.

Founded by Sharon Pastre, a Singaporean interior designer based in Hong Kong, the ICM’s target recipients are people who earn a daily income of P20, without access to potable water, dwell in shanties with dirt floors and scrap roofs, go to bed hungry at least once a week, or with at least one child mortality in the family.

The ICM currently operates from five key locations in Visayas and Mindanao, namely: Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Bohol, Koronadal, and General Santos.

Now in its 20^th year, the ICM regularly conducts a 16-week transformation seminar-program, instilling in 31 family participants a well-rounded education curriculum grounded on bible-based values.

The essential health practices imparted to the families center on knowledge of child growth, immunization, family planning, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV, dental care, hygiene, nutrition, exercise, vitamin deficiencies, and prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, mosquito-borne diseases, and skin problems. 

To help make them self-sufficient, families are not only taught small businesses like food production and soap making, but also family budgeting, saving and staying out of debt.

The ICM runs an orphanage with modern and sleek facilities, housing sick and abandoned kids.  It provides all their basic needs, including home schooling by Annie Tapuz, the pastor’s daughter and ICM officer for donor relations.

Eventually, the kids shift to the Alternative Learning System (ALS) recognized by the Department of Education and then enroll in public schools. 

One of their students is an intelligent 14-year-old girl, Jasmin Irish Gorre. She was inflicted with tuberculosis (TB) when she entered the orphanage as a toddler.

“All of us four sibling sick with TB were taken in by this ‘house full of kids’ when we were very young, since both our parents abandoned us, “ Jasmin narrated.

Right now ICM is paying for her education in the privately run Shylock Christian School in Bacolod.  Gorre dreams of making it to Oxford someday.

The ICM also has a resident children’s choir made up of 14 underprivileged, abandoned kids.  Conducted by UK-based composer and songwriter Louise Joachimowski, the choir has sung their messages of hope and dreams in Hong Kong and the US.

David Sutherland, chief financial officer of Morgan Stanley Asia, chairs the ICM board. He is the epitome of a passionate man who takes poverty seriously. 

Sutherland said ICM members do not just dip into their pockets to give the donations asked for. Instead, they reach out, work, and embrace poverty up close. 

 “The ICM wants to reach more places in the Philippines.  With our core staff numbering 300 now, we actually transform and energize the lives of Filipinos.  We call our module of leadership ‘Filipinos helping Filipinos”, he said.

For instance, they just did not buy a house for orphans to move in, but literally constructed it for them with their own hands.

 Other caring persons in the Hong Kong expatriate community take their cue from  Daphne Kuok, who humbly labels herself as a mere volunteer and the resident ICM jester.  “We involve the churches and expats in Hong Kong to not only invest funds in ICM projects but also immerse their families  in the mission work,”  said Kuok, who belongs to the Kouk family of the Shangrila hotel chain.

Other components of their poverty fighting strategies are the life-saving malnourished children outreach (MCO), maintenance of care recovery centers for TB cases, care clinics with volunteer doctors, and obtaining for their participants authenticated birth and marriage certificates from the National Statistics Office (which are requisites for accessing various government services). 

The ICM prioritizes putting older out-of-school children in their 10-month full preparation program for easy acceptance in public schools. This is hinged on a finding by the Asian Development Bank that the longer a child stays in school, the less likely he will be a victim of poverty. 

Every ICM project’s success is anchored on the competent local church pastors,  now totaling 3,000.  These church leaders literally serve both God and their fellow Filipinos.

By NORMAN SISON

WITH over 7,100 islands to choose from, the Philippines is known for its postcard-lovely beaches. Of late, it has been making waves on the world map of surfing.

One Internet site, Wanna Surf (www.wannasurf.com), describes the Philippines as “one of the last surfing frontiers.” It lists 35 spots in the country. Fourteen of those are in Siargao Island alone, in the south.

San Juan town in La Union province is the northern Philippines’ surfing capital. It is blessed with two surfing seasons–July to October and November to March–when waves spawned by the north swell crest from five to 12 feet.

Singapore-based Anne-Marie Bakker is often in San Juan with her white fiberglass board when she visits her parents’ home in San Fernando City, less than half an hour south of San Juan. “Rain or shine, all the time I’m out there,” says Bakker, whose cigar company, JB Global, champions Philippine-made cigars abroad and makes custom blends.

If she’s not in San Juan, she is out in the water at her beachfront home. “It’s hard not to be in the water and the elements when all is so near and tangible,” says Bakker, who is half-Filipina and half-Dutch. Her love for surfing gave her an idea to put up a water company, Alon (“wave” in Filipino), also in Singapore.

At Urbiztondo Beach, resorts sport walls decorated with framed photos of big-name surfers and visitors. San Juan Surf Resort, which boasts of several trophies from past international surfing competitions, is home to Filipino-Australian surfer Luke Landrigan, who has flown the Philippine flag in competitions overseas.

“La Union became known abroad because of surfing,” says local resident Joy Agustin-Oropesa, who hails from neighboring Bacnotan town, also a surfing spot. “Before surfing became popular, people just went to the beach during the summer. The beach is the province’s only tourism attraction.”

A Japanese started the surfing trend in La Union in the 1980s. Kazuo Akinaga, who was then working for a surfboard company, read about the Philippines in a magazine. He came, he surfed, he stayed. Today, he lives near the beach in San Juan. His dream: to produce surfboards “made in the Philippines” as most boards are imported and expensive.

Surfing was only what Elaine Abonal calls an “underground sport” when she took up the board 10 years ago. There were hardly any surfing schools and resorts back then, she recalls.

But things have changed. “More surf brands are coming to the Philippines because they know that there is a market here. There are more events and sponsors,” says Abonal, who runs Surfista Travels (www.surfistatravels.com).

Local tourism in La Union is mostly dead during the rainy season. The province is often in the path of typhoons rampaging usually from the Pacific. But typhoons don’t scare off everybody. “Surfing addicts are still at it even after a typhoon,” says Oropesa. “Most of them are foreigners. The bigger the waves, the better.”

This time of the year is for beginners aside from the usual beachgoers escaping the heat, when waves roll in much more gently, just enough to lift swimmers off their feet. But the sea still pounds the off white sand with a crash.

At the north end of Urbiztondo Beach, to avoid ramming swimmers, local tourists – including children – are on surfboards, lined up in the water, taking pointers from local instructors. They wait for that perfect wave and they get a helpful nudge from their instructors. Most wipe out after three seconds. Girls scream in delight as they go down with a big splash.

Aside from targeting surfers abroad, introducing surfing as a fun ride to locals has become a niche market for tour operators. “Surfing takes going to the beach to a whole new and meaningful level because you actually play with the sea or the ocean,” says Abonal.

But surfing is not for everybody. It needs a certain skill set, time for travel and money. “Here in the Philippines, surfing is mostly marketed towards the 18-35 age bracket, associating the sport with the easygoing, beach lifestyle so many of us young professionals yearn for,” says Cedric Valera, a managing partner at Travel Factor.

Travel Factor (www.travelfactor.org) offers budget weekend tour packages, bringing visitors from Manila for a day of surfing in San Juan. Surfboards and lessons are included. You leave Manila on a Friday midnight in a van. It is a six-hour ride north. You have stopovers in Tarlac and Pangasinan provinces along the way for bathroom breaks and breakfast. You arrive in San Juan between 6 and 7 a.m., and you are on a surfboard by 9 a.m.

There are factors that come into play when selling surfing to local tourists. “A typical Filipino’s idea of a beach is one that is safe, calm and suitable for swimming and frolicking around,” says Valera. “Filipinos, in general, are scared of the water!”

Also, Filipinos don’t like to travel during the monsoon season. However, that is when peak surfing conditions arrive.

As for selling the Philippines to experienced surfers abroad, the main consideration is the inconsistent quality of the waves. Philippine waters are fickle unlike those in Australia, Bali or Hawaii. So, the trick is to know when to visit.

There are things that make up for it, however, such as that world-renowned warm Filipino touch. “Some of our foreigner participants are so delighted with their one-on-one surfing lessons because their instructor is so kind, welcoming and caring compared to the instructors they enlisted in Bali or Australia,” says Valera. “The Philippines has world-class surf spots. Couple that with our trademark Filipino hospitality and we’ve got ourselves something to offer to the world.”

FOURTEEN-year-old identical twins John Paul and Peter John Parco and their younger brother Vincent, 13, share something rare.

Standing at less than 3 feet despite their ages, with slurred and hoarse speech, thick lips, fisted hands and ears slowly going deaf, the Parco brothers all have Hunter syndrome (Mucopolysaccharidosis Type II), a degenerative genetic disorder that strikes a person’s physical features and mental faculties.

Read more in PWD Files…

FORMER Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon was all set to sail on Friday to the disputed Scarborough Shoal to make a stand on Philippine sovereignty—until the call from the President came.

Former Marine Capt. Nicanor said President Benigno Aquino III prevailed upon him to postpone his trip. He agreed, saying he “trust(s) the wisdom of the government that it will be better for current efforts to resolve the standoff there.”

The standoff between China and the Philippines has dragged on since April 10 when China sent its maritime surveillance ships to prevent the arrest of Chinese fishermen found with sizable quantities of endangered marine species, corals, live sharks and giant clams by the Philippine Navy’s BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF15) on patrol near the shoal which the Philippines calls Panatag Shoal. The shoal is also known as Bajo de Masinloc and is 124 nautical miles off the coast of Zambales.

Faeldon, who was granted amnesty in April last year for his participation in the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, had organized a contingent of about 20 fishermen to sail with him to Scarborough Shoal supposedly to show support to the Philippine position against China’s sovereignty claim over the area.

He said in an interview he had prepared food and other supply to last his group for a few days in Panatag Shoal. A flag pole was also supposed to be loaded to their motorized boat as they were considering hoisting the Philippine flag there.

Faeldon said, however, the President urged him to postpone his trip to give way to ongoing talks with China as his protest action might be misinterpreted.

Palace Deputy Spokesperson Abigail Valte confirmed the call the President made to Faeldon asking him “to reconsider his plans, as it might be misconstrued.”

He added the Coast Guard also dissuaded him from proceeding with the voyage, while the Army’s 24^th Infantry Battalion commander, Col. Michael Samson, personally met with him to talk him out of his plans.

The former Marine captain said his aborted trip was intended to symbolically show Filipinos’ support to the government’s call for unity and to make a patriotic stand on the territorial row with China over Scarborough Shoal.

“Kagaya ng pinaliwanang ko kay Presidente kanina, ang hirap manawagan tayo na nakaupo lang tayo doon sa ating mga opisina gayong ang ating kapitbahay di tayo di tayo pinakikinggan. Baka kailangan natin maglayag doon para para magkaisa (As I had explained to the President, it’s difficult to make a position just sitting down in our office and our neighbor isn’t listening. Perhaps we need to make this voyage to be united),” Faeldon said.

“It’s a call for unity, national unity to support the effort of this nation and there’s no other purpose,” he added.

Faeldon said he will await the development on the ongoing talks with China before deciding his next step. “But as of now, definitely we will postpone the trip,” he said.

On Wednesday, Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario called on Filipinos to unite as a patriotic stand is needed by the country in the face of a running standoff between Chinese maritime vessels and Philippine Coast Guard ships in the Panatag shoal.

China and the Philippines have exchanged a number of diplomatic protests, and are still consulting on possible ways to resolve the impasse.

Text by MARC JAYSON CAYABYAB, Photos and video by VINCENT GO

WHEN the pistol went off, three swimmers dived off the starting block and splashed into the water to best one another in the 50-meter freestyle competition.

The frontrunner was a teenage boy who swam with only an arm and a leg. Close behind him was another boy who had only one foot while the third swimmer was a girl with no arms.

>>Read More in PWD Files

Text by REYNARD MAGTOTO, Photos and Video by VINCENT GO

ROAD safety advocates launched on Sunday morning a websitein commemoration of the first year of the Decade of Action for Road Safety (DARS), which coincided with the first death anniversary of journalist Lourdes “Chit” Estella who died in a road accident a year ago.

The website www.dotcdars.com, a project of the Department of Transportation and Communications, was unveiled during a program at the Quezon City Memorial Circle that capped fun runs, walkathons and other activities around Metro Manila designed to raise awareness of DARS.

The site offers global road safety stories, special reports, safety issues and violations, community initiatives as well as blogs of road safety advocates in a bid to “extend that partnership to the rest of the Filipino community by providing a social context where we can all be connected to the decision making process and join hands in saving lives.”

It also features the Philippine Road Safety Action Plan that shows the latest data and development including the latest country initiatives presented last April 18-19 to the United Nations General Assembly.

The website is linked to local and international websites such as those of the DOTC, UN, World Health Organization and World Bank, and to social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Youtube.

Earlier in the day, about 500 people from the government and private sectors joined runs, bike-athons, a walkathon and a motorbike  caravan, all in the name of road safety, from Rizal Park, Antipolo City, Tiendesitasin Pasig, SM Fairview in Quezon City, the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City and Market!Marketfrom Taguig.

Participants came from the DOTC, Philippine National Red Cross, Metro Manila Development Authority, Families of other Road Victims and Survivors (FRVS),Global Road Safety Partnership, Safe Kids Philippines, Philippine National Police, Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, Manila Water, KaligtasanKalusuganKalikasan Revolution, Firefly Brigade, Motorcycle Federation, National Commuters Welfare Protection, Safety Organization of the Philippines and local government units, among others.

Estella’s husband Roland Simbulan, who heads the FRVS, stressed that road safety is everyone’s concern and “should be a right” because, he said, every time a person goes out, he or she risks not returning home alive.

Simbulan also challenged government agencies and law enforcers not only to “enforce” traffic rules and regulations but “to lead by example.”

Estella, a founding trustee of VERA Files and a journalism professor at UP-Diliman,was killed when a bus rammed into her taxi along Commonwealth avenue in Quezon City.

Assistant Transportation Secretary Dante M. Lantin, the national focal point of DARS said Estella’s death anniversary gave meaning to the commemoration of DARS and also gave reason to form the FRVS road support group.

The FRVS was formed in March after Simbulan attended a road safety forum at Camp Crameto serve as “a support group and at the same time an advocacy group for road safety, especially the enforcement of rules and regulations for road users.”

The Philippines is one of 100 countries that have committed to support DARS, which has set out to reduce deaths and injuries from road crashes by keeping the UN’s Five Pillars of Road Safety: Safer Roads, Safer Vehicles, Safer Road Users, Improved Road Safety Management and Post-Crash Care.

 (The author is a journalism student of the Bicol University who is writing for VERA Files as part of his internship.)

WHILE vegetables are packed with nutrients essential to the human body, not all are a hundred percent safe to eat.

Environment group Bangon Kalikasan warned that urban-grown vegetables may be contaminated with heavy metals which are detrimental to people’s health.

Joey Papa, Bangon Kalikasan president, said some of these vegetables are grown in the urban farm inside the Quezon City Memorial Circle, a project of the local government.

He said the group has “some reservations” in keeping a vegetable garden in such a heavily-polluted area. He observed that a person cannot even breathe properly in the said area.

“Maganda naman yung intensyon (The intention is good),” Papa said of the government’s efforts to encourage urban farming, although describing the approach as “quite problematic.”

What is alarming is that the vegetables absorb too much lead coming from gasoline emissions from the vehicles in the vicinity, he said in a phone interview.

Papa expressed concern for the health of those who have been receiving the vegetables harvested in said urban farm and given away for free.

Cristina Perez, development officer of  “The Joy of Urban Farming,” a project of  QC Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, assured that urban-grown vegetables are produced through the use of organic fertilizer, which makes them safe to eat.

She said the vegetables harvested from the farm are given to excursionists who visit the 600-square meter farm to encourage them to plant even in the small pots in their backyard.

“Bukod sa meron ka nang maihahain sa hapag-kainan ay  nakakatulong ka pa sa environment kasi lumilinis ang hangin (Aside from having food on your platter, you are helping the environment because the air is cleaned),” Perez added.

Bert Mendoza, one of the project staff, said by giving away urban vegetables to excursionists will also enable them to make a comparison between crops produced by chemical-based fertilizers and those produced organically.

Papa suggested that to lessen the pollution in urban vegetable farms, there  should at least have a thick barrier of trees to protect the garden from stationary and mobile sources of pollution like factories and vehicles.

The city government, however, cleared an area in the QCMC of trees to make way for a carnival. Papa said since the city government has an urban farm project, it  could have developed the Circle to serve as a greenhouse.  “Sana yung mga puno hindi pinakialaman (I hope they leave the trees alone),” he said.

He said it would be a good idea for local government look for more reserved or “interior” places to convert into urban farms.

“Kung may makikitang ganoon, bakit hindi? (If the local government can find such a place, then why not?)” Rey Palacio, a Zero Waste Management and chemical safety campaigner from Eco Waste Coalition, said.

The Ecowaste Coalition, an environmental watchdog, earlier called for government action over the lead paint coating some playgrounds in Manila. Lead is a toxic metal and studies have shown that lead poisoning is particularly harmful to children as it causes damage to their brain and development. It could also contaminate vegetables in urban farms near the playgrounds or structures coated with lead paint.

He said  that even if the farm is moved to interior parts of the city, there is no guarantee that the vegetables will be totally free of lead.

He said  vegetables sold in the market are contaminated by pollutants in the urban air. Worse, he warned that formalin could have been sprayed on the vegetables to keep them fresh longer.

Palacio said the local government should take steps to lessen, if not eradicate the  contamination of vegetables in urban farms.

Palacio also said with pollution becoming a national concern, vegetables grown in urban farms are not the only ones that are contaminated. Vegetables in rural areas are also becoming exposed to dangerous chemicals.”When one burns plastic, chances are the crops in the nearby garden are affected,” he cautioned.

Palacio advised people to wash the vegetables with baking soda and water solution before cooking or eating in order to neutralize possible contaminants.

He said it is still best to grow vegetables in every individual’s backyard. This way the residents would know where their food is coming from.

Aside from solving the problems of malnutrition, he said backyard farming can also bring additional sources of income to families and barangays. If they reap a good harvest, they can sell these to their neighbors.

(The author is a journalism student of the University of the Philippines who is writing for VERA Files as part of her internship.)

By TESSA JAMANDRE

A YEAR after he swore allegiance to the flag after being granted amnesty for joining the Oakwood mutiny in 2003, former Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon is back.

On Friday, he will lead an armada of fishermen to make a stand in the Scarborough Shoal where a tense standoff between Chinese maritime ships and the Philippine Coast Guard continues.

Faeldon and former Annapolis cadet Manny Albuera will set sail to Bajo de Masinloc or Panatag Shoal, as the Philippines calls the shoal, along with fishermen from his hometown in Batanes to symbolically protest China’s claim over the shoal.

They also called on fishermen from Masinloc town in Zambales to join them to show China that the Filipinos are not afraid, especially “when we know it (the shoal) is ours.” Panatag Shoal is 124 nautical miles off the coast of Zambales.

Faeldon’s voyage initially will bring fishermen as close to Panatag Shoal as possible to exercise their right to fish, but the duration of their stay will depend on the situation on the ground, Kit Guerrero, spokesman for Faeldon, said.

He said Faeldon is also considering raising the Philippine flag on the shoal.

The former rebel soldier’s initiative came as Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario called on Filipinos to unite and make a patriotic stand to defend what belongs to the Philippines—even if it would entail sacrifice.

“We need to stand up even as we look for ways to solve the disputes peacefully… We need to take a position of patriotism that what is ours is ours,” Del Rosario said at the joint membership meeting of the Makati Business Club and Management Association of the Philippines Wednesday.

He added, “It’s possible that we may be tested. If we are tested, it’s possible that everyone will need to make a sacrifice.”

Of Faeldon’s voyage, Del Rosario later told VERA Files in an interview, “We may not have warships that can match China’s naval power, but we want to show a nation of Filipino people fighting for what is ours.”

As an offshoot of the standoff, China imposed a fishing ban that took effect midnight of May 16. It covers areas north of longitude 12 degrees in the South China Sea, Scarborough Shoal included.

The fishing ban is not new, but Philippine authorities said it is the first time Scarborough Shoal, or Huangyan island to the Chinese, was specified in the coverage.

Last year’s fishing ban covered areas in latitude 12 degrees north and westward from longitude 113 degrees east, no clear boundaries to the extent in the west and north.

Following China’s travel advisory that led to the cancellation of tours of Chinese tourists to the Philippines, intensified restriction on fruit exports from the Philippines and the fishing ban in Scarborough Shoal, Del Rosario said President Benigno Aquino III is already thinking of ways to help those who may be disadvantaged by the standoff.

“He is already thinking of the possibility of what kind of help to extend to those fishermen who had the freedom of fishing in the exclusive economic zone near the Bajo de Basinloc and who are now threatened by the circumstance,” he said.

On April 10, the Philippine Navy’s BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF15) while on patrol found eight Chinese fishing boats with sizable quantities of endangered marine species, corals, live sharks and giant clams.

While the Department of Foreign Affairs said there was a clear violation of Philippine sovereignty, the Navy did not arrest the Chinese fishermen or seize their cargo. China subsequently sent maritime surveillance ships to the area that prevented the arrest of the Chinese fishermen, which ensued in the standoff.

The two countries have since exchanged a number of diplomatic protests, and are still consulting on possible ways to resolve the impasse.

As of Wednesday, there are 10 Chinese fishing boats against one Filipino fishing vessel, and three Chinese government ships against the two Philippine Coast Guard vessels in Scarborough Shoal.

The Philippines claims sovereign rights over the shoal that is well within its Exclusive Economic Zone as provided for by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Scarborough or Panatag Shoal is referred to as Bajo De Masinloc in the archipelagic baselines law where like the Kalayaan Island Group in the disputed Spratlys chain in the South China Sea is not enclosed in the straight baselines but rather treated as regime of islands of the Philippines.

China and the Philippines also have competing claims over the Spratlys chain of islands in the South China Sea along with Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

By ELIZABETH  LOLARGA

AFTER decades of doing editorial illustrations and cartoons. Dario Noche is setting his sights higher as a visual artist.

In his show at the Conspiracy Bar on Visayas Ave., Quezon City, he reminds viewers of the body of works he has come up with in his long years in journalism. He has roughly 40 black and white illustrations and 15 in color in the exhibit, including original artwork from his Asiaweek stint.

In his heyday, he designed or redesigned publications some of which are in the annals of journalism history: Initiatives in Population, Manila Women’s Wear, Moptop, the weekly magazine Oh!, What’s Up cultural magazine, Standard Express, Jingle magazine when it morphed into Twinkle and The Manila Standard Today.

His interest in the visual arts was stirred as a boy in the province walking home from school and stopping at a place for more than an hour to look at a man working on the billboards of a movie house.

Noche recalls, “In the olden days, movie promotion was done this way. I was greatly impressed. They were to me huge murals. I was hooked. From then on, every blank paper in the house became my canvas. There was no artist gene in the family; I was the first aberration.”

He started as an architecture student at Mapua Institute of Technology but realized he couldn’t bear the math and shifted to fine arts at Feati University where his professors were mostly from the old Manila Chronicle.

Liborio “Gat” Gatbonton liked Noche’s work and recommended him as illustrator at Philippines Free Press. Although still unfinished with college credits, he was accepted.

He rues, “It was THE magazine at that time. It may have been sudden for me, but I managed. I was in the midst of the cream of Philippine journalism: Teodoro Locsin Sr, Nick Joaquin, Greg Brillantes, Kerima Polotan, Napoleon Rama, Jose Lacaba, Lorna Kalaw, Ricky Lee, J. Ser Sahagun, Danny Dalena, Alex Ngo. Most of them were very considerate. I fitted in snugly.”

He continues, “It was a time of turmoil then, internationally and right in our place of work. An unsettled labor dispute gave birth to Nick Joaquin’s Asia-Philippines Leader magazine that readily trounced Free Press.  It was from this group of professionals that I inherited the bane that few managed to ingest: coffee, cigarette, and beer. With Nick around, beer was never lacking.”

His years in journalism have been instructive. He says, “I hated the drudgery, the nine to five inhibition of the work, the flying egos. But in no other place else was my intellectual hunger sated. I learned grammar while poring over heavily edited manuscripts that were handed to me for layout. Listening to editors’ informal discussions, you had not only a glimpse of them but also learned vast literary knowledge and secrets. All these rubbed off on me, and I’m forever grateful.”

He put aside a cherished dream to be a full-time painter. Now retired from journalism, he says, “I am psyching myself up to become a painter. Earning a living is still a paramount concern. Painting was always on the back burner. My stay in the paper made me realize I was in the wrong profession, but I must admit it wasn’t a complete waste of time.”

Today he joins sketching sessions to hone his grasp of the human anatomy. His intention is to specialize in historical painting or illustration.

He explains why he is concentrating on historical paintings as his niche, “I am a First Quarter Storm participant. This awakening profoundly affected my thinking.  Former Third World countries, now recently developed nations, achieved their economic status because they have a deep sense of nationhood, culture, traditions and values. These nurtured and propelled them to impossible achievements.”

Noche bewails that “our youth today don’t have that. They grew up with wrong goals and values. Our educational and cultural system is wanting or doesn’t have a clear goal. I gave up on the older generation to ever deliver us. Maybe I figured re-educating the youth or the few remaining open-minded elders through historical paintings or illustrations can help inculcate and waken the right values hidden in our past.”

His illustration skills were also honed during his Asiaweek and Straits Times years in the 1990s. After joining many group shows in photography, illustration, graphic design and painting, he will explore sculpture through bas reliefs of historical events.

To do all that, Noche at 62 practices what he calls “moderation, restraint, physical and mental activity. Occasionally, I do weights to stay trim. I walk the short distance going home or to the market.”

He quips, “I’ve seen too many decrepit old men and some few hardy old men. I know what I will be when my time comes.”

Senate photo

OMBUDSMAN Conchita Carpio-Morales said Tuesday her office may file a second impeachment case against Chief Justice Renato Corona should the magistrate be acquitted in the ongoing trial by the Senate.

“I don’t see any reason why there is no chance for me to file…if that is warranted,” the Ombudsman said when pressed by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago if she would exercise that power.

The Ombudsman Act vests in the Ombudsman disciplinary authority over all elected and appointive officials of government, except over officials who may be removed only by impeachment and over members of Congress and the judiciary. But his or her investigatory power is for the purpose of filing a verified complaint for impeachment.

Carpio-Morales, who was presented by the defense as a hostile witness, revealed in a Powerpoint presentation on Monday that Corona had about $12 million deposited in 82 bank accounts as of December 2011.

She said she based the figure on a 17-page document detailing Corona’s dollar deposit transactions furnished by the Anti-Money Laundering Council from whom she had sought help in probing charges of unexplained wealth filed by the group of former party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros.

Corona is being tried by the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, on allegations of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution, including his supposed failure to fully disclose his assets in the annual Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth. There is a one-year ban on the filing of impeachment complaints.

Taking the witness stand again on Tuesday, Day 38 of the impeachment trial, Carpio-Morales was pointedly asked by Santiago if she would file a case on December, a year after the first impeachment case was filed by the House of Representatives, to which the Ombudsman answered yes.

“I must only abide by what the Ombudsman law provides,” she said.

She said it was also within the Ombudsman’s power to file civil forfeiture cases.

Santiago, however, assailed Carpio-Morales for acting “more powerful than the President” after obtaining confidential information from the AMLC on the chief justice’s dollar accounts in connection with the Ombudsman’s investigation.

Santiago said Carpio-Morales defied the rules set by law when told the AMLC to probe the alleged ill-gotten wealth of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

“Under the law, you have to go to a judge, you have to get an order from a judge to get the bank accounts… Di nya sinunod yun. At ipinipilit nya na may ganoon syang kapangyarihan (She didn’t follow that and insists that she is empowered to do so),” she said.

Santiago added, “Sa kanyang interpretation, walang limit ang kanyang powers. Ang sinasabi ko, ‘Of course not (Based on her interpretation, there is no limit to her powers. I say, ‘Of course not). Dahil magiging mas makapangyarihan pa sya sa Presidente o sa Senate President o sa Speaker of the House (Otherwise, she would be more powerful thatn the president, the Senate president or the Speaker of the House). She will be the most powerful person in the country!”

At one point, while questioning Carpio-Morales, Santiago lost her temper when the Ombudsman kept “arguing with the senator-judge” regarding her exercise of powers.

“You’re arguing with a senator-judge!” Santiago said.

“Mea culpa (my mistake),” Carpio-Morales quickly replied.

“Apology accepted,” Santiago said.

When asked about her heated exchange with the Ombudsman, Santiago revealed that the two of them are actually “friends” and are contemporaries from the University of the Philippines College of Law.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Carpio-Morales asserted that while the AMLC report may have been too technical for her, she understood it well before presenting it before the Senate impeachment court.

She was reacting to lead defense lawyer Serafin Cuevas’ insinuation that the 17-page AMLC report was “beyond her comprehension.”

“‘Beyond my competence yes, beyond my comprehension no,” a stern Carpio-Morales told Cuevas.

The Ombudsman admitted that she got the help of the Commission on Audit in interpreting some details of the AMLC report, but stressed that she was hands-on in preparing of the 25-slide PowerPoint presentation she showed the Senate on Monday.

“I asked (COA) to visualize (the information)…I was personally involved,” Carpio-Morales said.

Cuevas also asked Carpio-Morales whether she ascertained the accuracy and credibility of the AMLC report.

“Are the contents of that report are correct and in accordance with law? I wouldn’t know,” Carpio-Morales said, explaining it was beyond her means to verify the report.

But she added, “Again, I say the presumption is that they (AMLC) will provide me the right information.”

The prosecution’s Mario Bautista objected to Cuevas’ line of questioning and cited the Rules of Court that any report officially prepared by a government agency is ascertained as truthful and can be accepted as prima facie evidence.

Earlier, defense lawyer Jose Roy III said while he doesn’t question the authenticity of the AMLC report he doubts whether it gave the entire picture.

“I’m not sure, however, if what she presented is everything that AMLC reported. Secondly, this is obviously raw data. You’ve seen the documents; we cannot make heads or tails out of it. I’m sure when the Ombudsman received it, she didn’t know either,” he said.

When asked, however, whether the revelations of the Ombudsman was according to their plan, Roy said, “Did it go according to plan? Well, it went according to plan, but not ours.” 

The defense team admitted that they were caught off guard by the evidence presented by Carpio-Morales on Monday.

Defense team’s spokesperson Tranquil Salvador III also admitted that they weren’t expecting Carpio-Morales’s assertions in her presentation.

“Ang problema hindi namin sya na prisinta sa paraan na napaghandaan (The problem was we weren’t able to present it in the way we prepared it),” he said.

Roy asserted that the alleged 82 bank accounts owned by Corona was simply “mind-blogging” and couldn’t have been possible.

“Do you know of anyone with 82 bank accounts?” he said.

But what the defense was not surprised to find out, according to Roy, was how far the evidence against Corona would be unearthed, regardless if this was truthful or not.

“This case began without evidence,” Roy said. ”Now we are in a long fishing expedition to get evidence.”

Roy said defense lawyers met with Corona on the AMLC report “for a good part of the day” and the chief justice remains optimistic on how the trial is going on so far.

“When we parted ways he was in very high spirits,” Roy said adding that the magistrate is still keen on testifying before the Senate impeachment court “when the time is right.”