LOS ANGELES, 8 June — The reports this week that President Gloria Arroyo was seriously considering the imposition of martial law in Basilan, in view of the most recent Abu Sayyaf kidnappings, were cause for worry for all freedom-loving Filipinos. The scars and memories left over from the misuse of martial law by the late president Ferdinand Marcos still reverberate in the Filipino psyche, causing nearly everyone to flinch at the mere mention of those two words.
The president had publicly admitted that she was seriously considering the twin options of declaring martial law or a state of emergency in Basilan. By Wednesday though, she was forced to backtrack after coming under heavy criticism, denying that martial law or a state of emergency would be imposed in Basilan. Sen. Franklin Drilon said there was no need for either, while the president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Arthur Lim said that no invasion or rebellion was taking place in Basilan to justify it. "It's plain lawlessness," he said.
Libyan Ambassador to the Philippines Salem Adam agreed. He said the foreign community was supporting the administration's efforts to crush the Abu Sayyaf once and for all. "That is the solution. No ransom, no negotiation. Just crush them," Adam said.
That's all very well and fine, but what about the innocent civilians on the ground in Basilan (both Muslim and Christian)? They are the ones who suffer the most from being caught in the crossfire of government troops and the Abu Sayyaf bandits. They are the ones shot, blown up or displaced from the homes. They are the ones forced to hide and feed Abu Sayyaf bandits or face being killed. They are the ones humiliated and bothered by countless military and Abu Sayyaf checkpoints. For them it's a total nightmare.
It is a sad fact that once again the Abu Sayyaf are thumbing their noses at the government, just like they did last year to the Estrada government when they kidnapped foreign tourists from Malaysia and brought them to Sulu. They continue their gruesome practice of beheading some of their hostages, having done so to at least four of them so far. The Abu Sayyaf claim to be fighting for the independence of Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi. But with their greedy ransom demands one wonders whether they are just in the kidnap-for-ransom business more than anything else. After all, what's happened to the estimated $12 million they raked in last year for releasing their European hostages? Have they really spent it all so fast?
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American by and large are not well informed about world events, not even about the Philippines, which is a former US colony. At a recent AIDS benefit fashion show thrown by Kenzo in Los Angeles, which I attended, a publicist shrieked in mock horror when I told him that I had just spent six months living in Manila.
"Were you not kidnapped?" he asked me in all seriousness. All I could do was laugh it off. Americans don't realize that Basilan and Sulu are hundreds of miles away from Manila, and that in more ways than one, they are also worlds away.
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The pages of ads for bankruptcy help that I encountered in a Filipino-American newspaper last week shocked me. Page after page had ads placed by lawyers who specialize in bankruptcy laws, hoping to snag some business from Pinoy-Americans who by the look of it have slumped into deep debt.
Of course, Pinoy-Americans are not the only Americans in debt. Most Americans in fact carry huge amounts of debt around with them for most of their adult lives, usually in the form of credit card and mortgage debt. In the land of the free and home of the brave, one is deluged with pre-approved credit cards that arrive in our mailboxes every week.
No wonder many Filipino immigrants are tempted to take them and start using them, instead of cutting them half and returning them to the company that sent them. The flip side of such easy credit is that once your bills start piling up and you sink further into debt, the credit firms are not so nice in demanding their money back along with their pound of flesh (the compounded interest).
Filipino-American community groups should hold seminars on how to manage debt and hopefully become debt-free. To do so they must teach debtors how to live within their means, pay off their debt and remain debt-free after that. It's not that hard to do. What's needed is a well thought out plan and a commitment to stick to it.
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I recently talked to two former Arab News interns who are now working in Washington, D.C. Peter Sisler is now a correspondent with the German news agency DPA and has been married to a Turkish-American woman for seven years now. He frequently visits Turkey with his wife. Previous to joining DPA he worked as an editor at the Washington Times.
Peter told me that another former Arab News intern, Frank Fuerigh, is also working at DPA's Washington bureau.
Afshin Molavi, a former Arab News intern and staff member, is now working as a public relations officer for the International Finance Corporation, which is a unit of the World Bank. He previously worked for Reuters in Dubai and most recently spent a year in Iran (1999-2000) researching material for a travelogue book while stringing for the Washington Post and Financial Times. Entitled "Persian Pilgrimages," the book is being published by WW Norton and is slated to appear in Spring 2002.
Afshin told me that he interviewed 2,000 people for the book, which he says will be 250 pages long. The added good news is that Afshin is getting married on June 16 to Sheila Shahriari in Chicago at the Sofitel Hotel. He invited me to attend but I don't think I'll be able to make it. Nevertheless, I'm sure all of Arab News staff wish him and his future wife all of the very best!
