Wonen in de Filipijnen

Vandaag op de nieuwsberichten via Internet:
"Gunmen shot and killed a 50-year-old newspaper reporter in the southern Philippines at the weekend, the third journalist slain in a week, police said Sunday.

Nestor Dedolido was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital after two men on a motorcycle shot him at close range outside a bar he owned in the southern city of Digos on Saturday night, police said in an incident report.

Dedolido was a reporter for Kastigador, a weekly allegedly financed by a group of politicians and his death may have been related to his work, police said.

"I believe the killing of my father is politically motivated. There is a politician involved," Dedolido's son, Marxlen Dedolido, 22, told reporters without elaborating.

The Philippines is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.

Broadcaster Desidario Camangyan, 52, was shot dead by a gunman who walked onstage as the victim hosted a village singing contest in the southern Philippines on Monday.

A day later, Lito Agustin, 37, a radio reporter, was ambushed and shot dead as he rode a motorcycle home. Both men were known as outspoken critics of corrupt local officials.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines condemned the killings and pressed President-elect Benigno Aquino to ensure the murders were quickly solved.

Dedolido's death brought to 140 the number of journalists killed in the Philippines since 1986, the year a popular revolt ended the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship and restored press freedom, the union said.

"The enemies of press freedom are on a killing spree," Nonoy Espina, the union's vice chairman, told AFP.

"But it is more than that, it shows that the level of impunity is just so high that they believe they can get away with murder no matter who sits as president."

"Aquino has to hit the ground running from day one."

Detlev Mehlis, who leads an EU-funded program helping to train police and prosecutors in solving the killings, said he was outraged by the wave of muders this week.

"This is simply unacceptable. In a democracy, freedom of the press is essential," Mehlis told AFP.

"It's the job of government to protect its people. These crimes should be solved and we are ready to assist in any way we can."

Last year was the bloodiest for journalists, with 32 reporters among 57 people killed in a massacre blamed on a political warlord in the southern Philippines, press monitoring groups said.

A gun culture, a free-wheeling press and massive corruption are some of the factors that make the Southeast Asian nation dangerous for journalists.

Criminal gangs, politicians and other powerful interests typically murder journalists to silence them and intimidate other media workers."

Zoals al eerder aangestipt lijkt sexuele voorlichting hier op scholen in de Filipijnen een moeilijk punt te worden. Moeilijk aanvaardbaar voor de Katholieke kerk. Hier volgt een bericht gepubliceerd op MSN enkele dagen geleden:

"The United Nations on Friday backed a move by the Philippines to introduce sex education among primary and high school students that has sparked a row with the influential Catholic church.

The UN stressed that the Philippines was a signatory to an international treaty on the rights of children that commits member countries to providing proper information to girls and boys about their bodies.

"It is the obligation of the state to ensure that all adolescent girls and boys are provided with accurate and appropriate information on how to protect their health and practice healthy behaviours," the UN said in a statement.

"The United Nations will continue to work with government... to respect, fulfill and protect the rights of girls and boys to comprehensive information regarding their health and their bodies.

"Global evidence shows that giving clear, appropriate information to adolescents does not increase promiscuity but helps them make responsible decisions."

The government this week began introducing its Adolescent Reproductive Health programme in 80 public elementary and 79 high schools.

The scheme will later be expanded nationwide, in what the government said could hopefully reduce the country's high population growth rate, limit unwanted teenage pregnancies and prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines attacked the programme, warning that it encouraged promiscuity among the youth.

The bishops demanded that the government stop the programme, saying that sex education was better left to parents and taught within the confines of the home.

The UN on Friday acknowledged that parents played a pivotal role in teaching their children about their sexuality, but noted that people in authority such as teachers or doctors could explain the process better.

The government has often locked horns with church leaders over population control issues in this devoutly Catholic nation of more than 90 million people.

In one instance, church leaders called for the sacking of the health secretary after she launched a campaign to hand out free condoms on Valentine's Day this year as part of the battle against HIV and AIDS."

Of AIDS en HIV nu al of niet een ernstig probleem zijn hier, durf ik te betwijfelen. De Filipijnen staan niet meteen bekend als een destinatie voor toeristen om aan sex te doen. Niet zoals bijvoorbeeld Thailand.
Het kan evenwel geen kwaad om aan preventie te doen. De Filipijnen proberen, net als vele andere Aziatische landen, om zich te ontwikkelen. Ontwikkeling komt met een prijskaartje. Ontwikkeling in Aziatische (net zoals in Afrikaanse) landen, komt meestal met een medisch prijskaartje dat buitensporig is.
Hoedanook, de aanbeveling van de Katholieke Kerk hier dat sexuele voorlichting best door de ouders kan worden gegeven is bespottelijk. Miljoenen volwassenen hier hebben amper of nooit onderwijs genoten, vanwege te duur. Io vroege leeftijd moesten miljoenen hier al uit werken gaan om toch iets in het huishoudelijk laatje te brengen. Gedeeltelijk door traditie (de mensen zweren hier bij grote gezinnen waarvan de kinderen dan wel zullen zorgen voor de ouders, grootouders enz, als die te oud worden om nog te werken) en gedeeltelijk door gebrekkig of onvoldoende onderwijs, worden er hier alsmaar meer kinderen gemaakt omdat men toch niet weet hoe dat te voorkomen. Miljoenen groeien dus op voor galg en rad, zoals dat ooit heette, en ongeacht hoe het tegenwoordig heet, groeien op zonder veel perspektieven op werk en het onderhouden van een zelfbestaan.
Was het anders in Europa in de vijftiger jaren ? Het was geenszins anders in Europa vijfhonderd jaar geleden...
Tijden zijn veranderd. Tijd heeft de dogma's van de Katholieke Kerk in Europa de das omgedaan. Dat zal het ook hier doen.