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... ...Universal Declaration of Human Rights, December 10, 1948 -- "A Cause for Celebration" ... 'Demands of Dignity' 'Demands of Dignity' <DEVELOPING THE DISCOURSE ON OUR DECEMBER 1Oth DECLARATION>
On-Line Edition of the Book by Ed Aurelio C. Reyes Introductory Essay -- by Prof. Bernard LM Karganilla |
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'Demands of Dignity' by Ed Aurelio C. Reyes, 2008
CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK: Predecessor Documents The International Criminal Court The Rights of Peoples Human Rights & Peace: Intertwined Advocacies Human Rights Work Spans Centuries Celebrating While Working Harder Appendix 1-A: Text of UDHR Appendix 2-B: Text of UDRP Motive and Conduct of US War with Spain Conditions in the Philippines Early American Deception Mock Battle and its Aftermath More Duplicity Aug. 13: Historic Date Between Centuries Negotiating and Signing the Treaty Reactions to Signed Treaty US Domestic Moves for Ratification Precarious Vote Ratifies Pact App 2-A:
Text of
Treaty of Paris, 1898 App 2-B:
War
to Enforce the Sale Relating
the Two Documents Our
Decade-old 1998 Declaration Dissecting
the Demands Demanding
Apologies from the US (10 reasons) Demanding
Apologies from Spain (2 reasons) Appendix
3-A:
Text of A Philippine Declaration of Felicitation and Protest, 1998 App
3-B: List of 300+ signatories App 3-C: Unreal Estate: Map of Fraudulent Sale Response
to the Spanish Response Response from Madrid’s Envoy Almost an
Apology, But… Review of Rizal’s Critiques Needed Closer
Familiarity for Closer Friendship How to Serve One’s Honor Best App 4-A: Text of Response from Spain’s Envoy App. 4-B: Life at the start of Spanish Rule Response to the American Non-Response Elaborating on a Parody Two Myths Among Filipinos About Americans America’s Long Double-Bladed History Clueless About Global Resentment A New Hope App 5-A: Open Letter to the American
People App 5-B: Dear Whites, I Am No Racist! App 5-C: Mark Twain's 'The War Prayer' Demands of Dignity Running on One Foot Wrongs Cry Out to be Righted Developing the Discourse from Our Declaration Seek One Humanity! EXCERPTS: -o0o- "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed Dec. 10, 1948, has been a cause of celebration, and the Treaty of Paris, signed Dec. 10, 1898, has been a cause for indignation... on the part of ALL HUMANS." -o0o- "The HUMANITY of ALL is ONE! Assaults on the Rights of a human anywhere are assaults on the rights of all humans everywhere." -o0o- "The current Human Evolutionary Imperative is attaining Synergy in Conscious Oneness." -o0o- "We demand apologies not to uphold our national dignity, but to give the offenders the opportunity to uphold theirs." -o0o- "Demands for Human Dignity come from within Human Dignity itself." -o0o- "We seek redress, closure and healing... Since the governments involved and the international organizations that depend on the consent of governments cannot be expected to support these calls or accord them any serious attention, we are calling upon the citizens of these and other nations, on the citizenry of the world." -o0o- "One of the factors underpinning the habit of trying to hide or mangle the truth is the illusion that facts hidden well enough as secrets can stay as such forever. Another is the illusion that you can harm your fellow-humans without harming yourself." -o0o- "Inevitably, eventually and ultimately, all wrongs cry out to be fully acknowledged, regretted, and set aright. Your peace of mind now and in the future demands it. Your very dignity demands it." -o0o- "Smile for Synergy! Seek One Humanity!"
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LINKS TO THE MAIN PARTS OF THE Demands of Dignity BOOK:
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Introductory Essay -------------------------------- Dignifying December
(Culled from two successive issues of Prof.
Karganilla’s regular opinion columns in Malaya, a broadsheet daily
widely circulated throughout the Philippines.) IN
THIS SEASON of Advent,
three Filipino causes are worth championing. The Kamalaysayan solidarity
network on sense of history has reason to pursue all these causes
vigorously. Interlinked Causes People’s organizations in Caloocan are spearheading a global campaign to include the Bonifacio Monument in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The World Heritage Convention, adopted 36 years ago by member-states of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, noted that the world’s cultural and natural heritage are increasingly threatened with destruction not only by the traditional causes of decay, but also by changing social and economic conditions. It considered monuments as "cultural heritage" and obliged all parties to recognize its duty of ensuring the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of such heritage. The Philippines joins 185 other states in making inventories of properties threatened by serious and specific dangers, such as rapid urban development projects. These are principles that are valued by the masses of Caloocan. The SAMATRIP, the PD1517 Coalition, the Caloocan City Urban Poor Sectoral Council District 2, and the Bagong Silang Multi-Sectoral Movement, through the representation of Rolando G. Ocampo, urge their fellow Filipinos to enlist in the Monumento Global Campaign in honor of the memory and legacy of Gat Andres Bonifacio, a son of the City and a hero of the Nation Bonifacio, a Pangulo of the Republika ng Haringbayang Katagalugan, and his comrades in the Katipunan, are immortalized in the monument that stands at the northern terminus of the Line 1 of the Light Rail Transit. The work of art, which is surrounded by the old Araneta Building, the Ever Emporium, the Monumento Market, and the LRT Line 1, was crafted in 1933 by Guillermo Tolentino, a National Artist and a Fine Arts dean of the University of the Philippines The Bonifacio Monument was mandated by Act No. 2760 on February 23, 1918. It was a bold and successful move, considering the temper of those times. In those days, the Philippine National Flag was banned by the Philippine Commission through Act No. 1696, which prohibited the "display of Katipunan flags, banners, emblems, or devices." Yet, the erection of a work of art commemorating the Spirit of the Katipunan was legislated. It was a rollercoaster of struggle for patriotic Filipinos. The so-called Flag Law (Act No. 1696, in effect from September 6, 1907 to October 22, 1919) contradicted the Bonifacio Monument edict (Act No. 2760), and it took 15 years for the Tolentino masterpiece to materialize. Today, the Monumento at Caloocan is simply a marker for commuters of LRT Line 1, and it would be a waste and a stain on the patriotism of our forefathers if the Bonifacio Monument is imprisoned by the coming of another metropolitan rail structure. The substance and symbolism of the Bonifacio Monument is defended by the Heroes Del 96 community, home of 50,000 citizens, and these heritage-aware residents of Caloocan enjoin their compatriots to enlist in the Monumento UNESCO Global Campaign. Send your letters to rollyocampo@yahoo.com Our second advocacy this December comes from 61 old and sickly women who are survivors of the Japanese Rape of Mapanique. On November 23, 1944, the Japanese Imperial Army attacked the village of Mapanique in the town of Candaba in the province of Pampanga. Pilar Galang, Francia Buco, Belen Sagum, Corazon Suba and Emilia Mangilit "witnessed how they (Japanese soldiers) grabbed and tortured our fathers, grandfathers, uncles and brothers." Belen Culala, Felicidad Turla, Marta Gulapa, Maria Quilantang and Victoria dela Pena "saw how they battered those male relatives, tied them to posts and trees for the ants to bite before they (Japanese soldiers) cut off their (our relatives) penises and stuffed the same in their (victims) mouths." Teresita Pangilinan, Januaria Garcia, Lucila Payawal, Teodora Hernandez and Jovita David "cannot forget the sight of our burning houses and belongings and the smell of burning flesh and bones, which were our relatives’. They made us carry our belongings that they had looted, and then they raped us, some in full view of the others, most of us, repeatedly." Joliana Magat, Rufina Mallari, Candilaria Soliman and the other victims of the Japanese are in the twilight of our years and it should pain all decent souls that these ladies would die without seeing justice. Therefore, Lourdez Navarro, Francisca Atencio, Erlinda Manalastas and the other survivors of the Mapanique Massacre are appealing to the House of Councillors of the Japanese Parliament to enact a law that will give justice for all victims of sexual violence of the Japanese Imperial Army. Corazon Calma, Ester Palacio, Natalia Alonzo and the other members of Malaya Lolas, the organization of surviving victims of the Mapanique mass rape, are aware that some Japanese councillors had sponsored a bill asking the Japanese government to take historical responsibility, to apologize publicly for the comfort women system as a war crime, to mention this event in Japan’s history books, and to compensate the victims. But Leonor Sumawang, Tarcila Sampang, Anita Briones and the rest of Malaya Lolas are dismayed that the Japanese House of Councillors never passed that bill into law. The Malaya Lolas (Teofila Punzalan, Mamerta Puno, Magdalena Liwag, et.al.) understand that Japan’s definition of comfort women exclude them from being considered as such. But Esperanza Manapol, Pastora Guevarra, Maxima Angulo and the other Mapanique survivors would like to tell the honorable Japanese legislators that "our sufferings were not any degree lighter simply because the Japanese soldiers did not bring us to brothels." The Malaya Lolas (Zoila Manaluz, Ana Alonzo, Lidya Sanchez, et.al.) "experienced unspeakable horror and terror" and believe that they also deserve justice, along with the other victimized Filipinas who have been officially classified as "comfort women." To further explain what had happened to them, Rosita Culala, Catalina Manio, Rosario Buco and the rest of Malaya Lolas refer the Japanese to the decision of the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal of December 2000. If you want to know more, go to the following websites: http://kaisa-ka.livejournal.com/759.html and www.gopetition.com/online/21631. Our third advocacy in this season of joy and hope commemorates the 110th anniversary of the Spain-USA Treaty of Paris and celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). On December 10, 1898, the United States of America and the Queen Regent of Spain, through their plenipotentiaries assembled in Paris, signed a Treaty of Peace wherein Spain ceded the Philippine Archipelago to the US. In return, the US paid to Spain the sum of twenty million dollars [Article III]. It was a large-scale violation of Filipino human rights. On December 10, 1948, the UN promulgated the UDHR, which proclaimed that everyone has the right to a nationality (Article 15). Linking the two anniversaries, 314 signatories made on December 10, 1998 a Philippine Declaration of Felicitation and Protest that asked Spain and USA to apologize for their Treaty of Paris and their violation of Filipino human rights. That 1998 Declaration remains relevant. This is explained in Ed Aurelio Reyes’ new book, "Demands of Dignity." These three campaigns of conscience, courage and cheer will bear healthy fruit as God helps those who help themselves. More on the Traitors' Treaty The representatives of the commercial republic that had spawned Benedict Arnold and the kingdom of medieval inquisitors dickered over our future. They had no right to decide the fate of a third nation, but they did. And the motivation was money. The sum of twenty million dollars for the Philippine Archipelago. After a brief, manufactured war, the United States of America and the Queen Regent of Spain, through their plenipotentiaries assembled in Paris, signed a Treaty of Peace wherein Spain ceded the Philippines to the U.S. It was December 10, 1898, and the price paid was for the rich friar lands (haciendas owned by Spanish monastic groups, trade houses and feudal lords) tilled by oppressed Filipino peasants. America, the brash, new imperial power in the Pacific, had defeated Spain, a declining empire from the Mediterranean, in a two-front war. Las Islas Filipinas was the second front, along with Guam and the Marianas Island Group. But the U.S. Pacific victory was only a naval engagement in Manila Bay. The land battles were actually won by the republican Filipino armed forces. In fact, by September 1898, a Revolutionary Congress in Malolos, Bulacan stood for the Filipino-liberated provinces, crafting a national Constitution, installing tertiary-level educational institutions and affirming local government resolutions. The Filipinos had launched a War of Independence against Spain in August 1896 that culminated in a Philippine Republic, which was inaugurated on January 23, 1899 in Luzon. Embassies in Manila were duly informed and the international press covered the Philippine Revolution. Clearly, Spain, the defeated ex-colonizer, had no authority to cede the Philippines to the U.S., the opportunistic imperialist that had no mandate to buy a newly-independent republic in Asia. The
1898 Spain-USA Treaty of Paris was a
large-scale violation of Filipino human rights. For modern Filipinos, two things in addition have made the December 10 Treaty indigestible. One, it became the basis for the American invasion and occupation of the Philippines from 1899 to 1941. The Filipinos resisted, of course, defending their Republic, homes and civil liberties. In the course of the Philippine-American War and the subsequent American pacification campaign, the successors of Abraham Lincoln committed unspeakable cruelties upon Filipino combatants and civilians alike. Two, the Paris "peace" document also became the basis of the computation of the national territory of the Philippines upon the re-establishment of the Filipino Republic. The Archipelago of Jose Rizal lost control of some of its islands, which went to the U.S. and the British concoction of Malaysia. The treaty between the colonialist Spaniards and the imperialist Americans marked its 110th anniversary in 2008. High time that the descendants of Andres Bonifacio recover their tarnished sovereignty and history. back to top suggested next
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Demands of Dignity THE HARDCOPY EDITION, in about 180 regular sized bookpaper pages with full-color paperback cover FREE ACCESS FOR ALL to the ON-LINE EDITION until February. 4, 2009, 110th Anni- versary of the Fil-Am War.
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Introductory Essay
by Bernard Karganilla, Kamalaysayan chair
