Saving Philippine frogs

YEAR OF BIODIVERSITY
Saving Philippine frogs

Inquirer.net.  02/13/2010

1 How important are frogs in the ecosystem and in the web of life?

Frogs are an excellent indicator of environmental health. One explanation is that the skin of amphibians is semi-permeable, hence is very sensitive to the environment. Amphibians can “breathe” and “drink” through their skin, obtaining oxygen and water from their surroundings. Therefore, polluted environments can directly affect them.

Another explanation is that most species of frogs undergo two phases in their life cycle: an aquatic stage (the tadpole phase) and terrestrial stage (adult metamorph). Both phases involve radically different body forms, ecology and lifestyle. But one thing that is common to both forms is that they are subjected to a wide spectrum of environmental stress and challenges. (Not all frogs, however, have tadpoles. Many Philippine species of frogs skip the tadpole stage and their eggs develop directly into small frogs! This is a mode of reproduction known as direct development.)

Frogs play an essential function in the web of life. In the food chain, for example, they are a major predator of insects and many other invertebrates (animals without backbones). One could just imagine their important role in controlling the population of insect pests that could potentially damage important agricultural crops.

At the same time, frogs are a chief source of food for other animals, both vertebrates (especially birds, monitor lizards, snakes, civet cats and other frogs) and invertebrates. As we all know, many rural Filipinos are also fond of feasting on frog meat come rainy season, when frogs can be seen and caught in great abundance around lakes, ponds, and in flooded rice fields.

2 How many frog species are found in the Philippines?

There are about 105 known species of frogs in the Philippines. But herpetologists (those who study amphibians and reptiles) are aware of the presence of many other species, particularly those that have not been given formal names yet and are now in the process of being “described” to science. When this is done, the Philippines will likely have somewhere between 150 and 200 species of frogs! What is more fascinating is that over 80 percent of the species can only be found in the country.

For a relatively small country, the Philippines is extraordinary in having such a high concentration of biodiversity especially of unique species, the kind that cannot be found on other places of the world.

3 What areas were studied by a US-Philippine research team?

A team of Filipino and American scientists has undertaken field surveys of amphibians and reptiles in the Philippines since 2004. So far, the team has surveyed 20 different places on the islands of Luzon, Lubang, Samar, Leyte, Cebu, Dinagat and Mindanao. The ongoing study is part of a larger, collaborative research program on Philippine biodiversity between scientists from the Philippines and the United States.

The biodiversity research program included a survey of the presence of the chytrid fungus in the Philippines. This was led by scientists from the University of Santo Tomas, University of Kansas and the National Museum of the Philippines in partnership with the San Francisco State University, Silliman University-Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management and the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Our field surveys were undertaken in forested areas (such as mountains, natural parks, watershed areas) but we also surveyed human-controlled environments (like rice fields, crop plantations, built-up areas and even gardens).

We screened all frogs that we found from those areas for the chytrid fungus. Our initial results show the presence of chytrid fungus in five species of frogs that we found from two localities in Luzon: Mt. Palaypalay (in Cavite province) and Mt. Labo (in Camarines Norte).

4 Are the frog species found infected with the fungus found only in Luzon?

The five species of frogs that tested positive for chytrid fungus were Limnonectes macrocephalus, Limnonectes woodworthi, Rana similis, Rana luzonensis and Occidozyga laevis. Species of Limnonectes are commonly called “fanged frogs.” Both the species of Rana are “stream frogs” and Occidozyga frogs are commonly known as “puddle frogs.”

All these frogs are associated with aquatic environments and are especially found in mountain streams and fast-flowing rivers.

Except for Occidozyga laevis, all species are endemic to the Luzon Pleistocene Aggregate Island Complex or Luzon PAIC. Scientists consider the Luzon PAIC a separate biogeographic region in the Philippines. This means that the species of animals (and also plants) that are found in this region are unique to the region and are usually not found from other places in the Philippines.

Luzon PAIC includes the islands of Luzon, Polillo island group, Catanduanes, Marinduque and other adjacent islands around Luzon. Sometime during the geological past of the Philippines (that is millions of years ago), all these islands were connected to each other and formed one landmass.

5 How does the fungus kill frogs?

First of all, the type of fungus that we are talking about is called chytrid. Chytrid fungi are primarily found in soil and water but are certainly present almost everywhere. So far, only one of the 500 or so species of chytrid has been found to parasitize vertebrates—frogs, specifically—and goes by the scientific name Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Let us use the acronym Bd for this fungus.

Studies have shown that Bd causes a pathogenic skin disease in amphibians called cutaneous chytridiomycosis. This disease has been linked to mass mortalities of frogs in many countries in North, Central and South America and in Australia.

Scientists have also found that chytridiomycosis, interacting with other environmental factors, may have triggered the recorded massive decline of many frog populations in those countries, and worse, have caused the extinction of several species.

Bd lives in the skin of frogs. Like other chytrids, Bd produces zoospores (hundreds to thousands of them) in order to reproduce and to disperse. The zoospores are encased inside a structure called sporangium (plural, sporangia), which can be found scattered all over the skin cells of an infected frog. When they mature, the zoospores are ejected from the sporangium through discharge tubes that poke out of the frog’s skin.

Researchers believe that the disease disrupts biological processes in the skin of diseased frogs. Keep in mind that the semi-permeable skin of amphibians plays a critical function in respiration.

Researchers also suspect that Bd produces toxins during the infection stage. The pathogen load weakens the frog and eventually kills it.

6 When did the fungus reach the Philipines?

How is it spread?

We do not know the answer at this point. But the results of recent studies from other countries could provide helpful information.

The studies indicate that Bd might have been introduced along with commercially traded frogs. Frogs are routinely exported or imported as specimens for medical research, animals for the pet trade, as processed meat, or for frog farming.

One study suggested that Bd originated from Africa and was subsequently introduced into other countries through commercial trade of frogs. Another study done in Japan showed that the introduction of an alien species of frog for food and pet trade was the culprit for the appearance of the chytrid fungus in that country.

The results of these studies are highly relevant to us in the Philippines since we know that alien species are commonly traded in the country. In fact, there are now at least five species of alien frogs in the Philippines based on a previous study that we conducted ourselves. One of the five alien species in the Philippines (Rana catesbeiana) is the same species of frog that Japanese researchers found to be a vector of Bd.

On the other hand, Bd may have been in the Philippines for a long time and only recently did it reach pathogenic levels, due perhaps to radical changes in the extent and quality of our forest habitats, the structure, microclimate and so on, brought about by massive deforestation and forest disturbance that are still happening in our country.

But then again, we do not have the data right now to reach a conclusive statement. For example, we even lack baseline information on the population ecology or abundance of frogs from the two mountains where we found the chytrid fungus. Thus, we do not have any historical data to compare the information that we have now.

7 When did it start outside the country?

Scientists were able to identify Bd and the disease it causes in the late 1990s. But researchers working in Central and South America started noticing that something was amiss as early as the 1970s, when the populations of frogs that they were studying and monitoring started to decline and even collapsed.

8 How many countries have been affected by the fungus?

Bd is now known from at least 43 countries and has infected more than 100 different species of frogs.

It has been recorded in countries in North, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania (Australia and New Zealand).

9 What are the steps being taken to save the frogs?

In other countries, Bd-infected frogs are caught from the wild and are brought into captivity with the aim of preventing the spread of infection to other individual frogs, species or populations. While the diseased frogs are being kept in zoos, veterinarian centers, or research centers, careful observation and monitoring are done. Some groups of researchers have found success in the treatment of diseased frogs using antifungal medications.

But in general, scientists feel that current conservation efforts are insufficient and the available options to control and to combat the spread of the disease are very limited. Scientists are still striving to find more effective and long-term solutions to this global problem.

That is why we believe that it is very important now to establish a monitoring program on chytrid fungus in the Philippines. Among the first steps that should be done are to: (1) Find out which other areas in the country are Bd-positive; (2) Identify which other species of frogs are affected; and (3) Determine and assess the effects of Bd on the frog community.

In the meantime, the two areas where we found the presence of Bd need to be monitored and assessed if the chytrid is causing a decline in their frog populations.

(Arvin C. Diesmos, Ph.D., an ecologist, is a research scientist at the zoology division of the National Museum of the Philippines, Manila and is in charge of the herpetology section; Mae Lowe L. Diesmos, M.Sc., a biologist, is an assistant professor at the Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science of the University of Santo Tomas, Manila.

Rafe M. Brown, Ph.D., an evolutionary biologist, is a curator at the Natural History Museum of the University of Kansas and an assistant professor at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Kansas.)

Penitensya or flagellation in the Philippines

I accompanied my balikbayan cousin Jeremy Baltazar to witness one of what can be  considered  the extreme acts of devotion  during Holy week in the Philippines,  the “flagellants”  or “penitensya”.  We were able to document  the "penitensya" in Malibay, Pasay for this blog
.

 During my younger days, I used to wait for the procession of the “penitensya” coming from the malibay/maricaban area . Perhaps due to curiousity as a child , i usually sit in the sidewalk and wonder why they do this practice every Good Friday.

 

Lent is the commemoration of the suffering, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a 40-day-long observance (excluding Sundays) that begins on Ash Wednesday, and ends with Easter Sunday. As Catholics see this season as a time for personal conversion and atonement, various acts redemption are committed by the faithful.

Around the world the devout and non-devout alike flock to churches for confessions and prayers like novenas and the Way of the Cross. Penance and sacrifices such as abstaining from eating meat and fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are also observed. In the Philippines, penitents have enacted a much greater mortification on Good Friday since the Spanish era -- flagellation.

Flagellation (penitensya in Filipino) is an extreme act of mortification in which the penitent scourges himself by whipping his own flesh. This art of mortifying was popularized  in the Catholic Church during the 13th and 14th centuries by radicals in the Catholic Church. It began as a militant pilgrimage which the Catholic Church later considered as heretical. The Flagellation refers in a Christian context to the Flagellation of Christ, an episode in the Passion of Christ prior to the Jesus' crucifixion. The practice of mortification of the flesh for religious purposes was utilized by some Christians throughout most of Christian history, especially in Catholic monasteries and convents. and was later condemned by the

Despite the condemnation of flagellation by the Catholic church, many of its devout still practice this extreme form of self mortification every Good Friday in various countries with a dominant Catholic population. As in the Philippines, flagellants - hooded, half-naked men under the unforgiving summer sun -  first cut their backs with a blade or knife then begin whipping their backs with bamboo-tipped burillos or with whips embedded with thorns and glass shards as the blood flows out of their wounds.

Flagellation (from Latin flagellare, to whip) was not an uncommon practice amongst the more fervently religious. As well as flagellation, the rituals were built around processions, hymns, distinct gestures, uniforms, and discipline. It was also said that when singing a hymn and upon reaching the part about the passion of the Christ, one must drop to the ground, no matter how dirty or painful the area may seem.

Some penitents   hope if they beat themselves the loving God will be sorry for them and is less likely to send them to Hell. The question is: does that mean that the goal of flagellation is not being achieved such that they have to do this almost every year?

Watching a Filipino penitent engage in self-flagellation is indeed not for the faint of heart.How much do they cut themselves ?It seems like it might be a little excessive. For health reasons it probally isn't the best idea to have all that blood flying around especially with open wounds for it to land in. Because of their self-inflicted lesions, penitents are at risk of contracting tetanus and other infection. Another disturbing practice of Filipino penitents is using a razor blade or a small wooden plank embedded with glass shards to prick the skin of the back and initiate bleeding before the flogging starts. In most cases, only one such implement is used on several penitents. On the other hand, spectators catching the splatter of a penitent’s blood may be in for trouble. Blood drops that land on mucous membrane like the eyes and mouth pose serious threat. AIDS, hepatitis and syphilis are among the diseases that could be transmitted through this mode.

As the years passed flagellation has for some reasons  become an entertainment  every Good Friday. People flock to the streets waiting for the penitents to pass by as they mimic the struggle and piety of Christ.


For the past few years, in recognition of the show flagellation has become, the church has urged Catholics to focus on self-atonement and conversion rather than engage in .an extreme act of mortification in which the penitent scourges himself by whipping his own flesh.

Dog Bite and Car incident on April 15, a not-so-ordinary day

Last Friday, April 15, 2011 should have been one ordinary day. But it turned out it was not.

At 9:30 a.m., I was slightly bitten in my right leg by my neighbor’s pet dog, the mini dachshund breed . At first I thought it was only a scratch but the spot turned black and I felt some pain. We immediately washed and applied some first aid. I still felt the pain while driving and combined with paranoia for the possible effect of the dogbite’s rabies, I accidentally swide swiped a 52-year old lady on my way to work at the Baclaran area and was forced to rush her to the nearby San Juan de Dios Hospital. Fortunately, she only had minor bruises in the ankle area and no major injury. While  chatting at  the hospital, I apologized to her for the accident and she said that she is not mad since “mabait naman ako.” What perhaps helped to ease the tension was the fact that she has siblings who are seafarers and I told her I am a lawyer for seafarers and we are the legal counsel of the church based organization, Apostleship of the Sea. Plus I have two brother priests. The hospital emergency bill: Almost P3,000 pesos. After  the accident, I went to Makati medical center to attend to the dog bite: the cost 5 injections of verorab at P1,600 per injectible , or P 8,000.00 plus a little less than a thousand for the antibiotics and antitetanus. 

During our conversation at the San Juan De Dios Hospital, it was only then that I remembered that April 15 was not just an ordinary day. 

April 15, 2002 was when we brought Mama for the first time to the hospital.  My mother, fondly called Mama Linda, died l on May 17, 2002 due to pericarditis and lymphoma or cancer of the lymph nodes after almost a month of confinement at the Philippine Heart Center.  On April 14, 2003, papa  was rushed to Las Piñas City Medical Center after falling down from the stairs — a day short of the one full year from mama’s hospitalization. A year and six months after mama’s death, my father, Papa Ponching to many, died  November 16, 2003 a Sunday, due to pneumonia after being bedridden for almost eight months brought about by complications arising from an operation on his brain (hydrocephalus). I have told relatives and friends that  Papa could have been dead during the second week of April due to the gravity of the hydrocephalus  if not for that incident when he fell from our stairs. Maybe Mama pushed him so that the hydrocephalus and tumor could be detected.

In my blog “KAMATIS” LOVE AFFAIR OF PONCHING AND LINDA GORECHO I wrote that if I will submit the love story of my parents to “Maalaala Mo Kaya,” I will use the title “Kamatis.” The wedding line, “Till death do us part” will be replaced by “But death will not set us apart.” All throughout their more than thirty years of marriage, we never saw them engage in physical fights. Although we were accustomed to Mama’s masungit and mataray lines, we knew that was just how they expressed their emotions: only through words and eye contact. Laging sinasabi ni Papa: Bago pa man magkasala si mama sa kanya (siguro sa pagiging mataray ni Mama) pinapatawad na nya si mama. If mama was angry, Papa would just step back. Di nya sasalubungin emotion ni mama.

When we were growing up, I remember times when Mama scolded us, “Buti nga kayo di nyo naranasan ang magtinda ng kamatis sa palengke.” Then she would cry. Perhaps, this was her way of saying that whatever the benefits we were enjoying then were due to their hard work..This is something that children have to realize: that parents will sacrifice a lot for the future of the kids. If mama would say the “kamatis” story, Papa, on the other hand, would tell us stories when he was still a security guard in a government agency before they got married in July 1968. Papa was a security guard by day and a student by night taking up library science. When he graduated, he proceeded to be a librarian in the same office until he retired in early 1990s.

People wonder why we have several stuff in our house which Papa did not want to dispose, especially the shoes. Papa justified this by saying that while he was growing up, he never had the luxury of owning new ones since both he and mama came from a family with very modest means. He tried to instill this in us such that long before ukay-ukay became famous, we were already wearing secondhand clothes and shoes, sleeping on beds, sitting on chairs and sofas that papa bought from the secondhand shops in Bangkal. Seldom did we wear brand-new clothes, except maybe during Christmases when our Titas bought us clothing on an installment basis - one Tita would buy us pants while another took care of the shirts. Never mind the shoes, andyan naman ang Bangkal. We became the walking models for ukay-ukay.

Perhaps the two incidents this morning, the dog bite and the car accident,  were my parents’ “reminder” that April 15 is a date to be remembered. So,  I attended the 7pm mass at greenbelt chapel and prayed for them.

annulment in the Philippines

If I were to answer that question with a simple yes or no answer, the answer
would be a definite NO!  It must be understood however that divorce in the legal parlance, is the dissolution of marriage for whatever reason resulting in capacitating both parties to remarry.  Divorce legally recognizes that a marriage actually existed, but for whatever reason, one or both parties can no longer continue with the commitment.
However, it is still possible for a marriage solemnized in the Philippines to be terminated.  The way to terminate the marriage is, however, not called divorce, it is called an annulment.  An annulment unlike a divorce has the effect of considering the marriage as “void ab initio”, a latin term to meaning the marriage NEVER existed at all.  The grounds for annulment are often pertaining to the absence of, or defect in, one of the essential or formal requisites of marriage. Although it has a different effect in how it considers the marriage (null and void) after annulment, it has however the same effect in terms of capacitating the parties to remarry. It should be noted that for a marriage to take place, there are essential requisites and formal requisites which must first be met.
The essential requisites of marriage are: 1) legal capacity of the contracting party, who must be male and female, and 2) consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer (Article 2, Family Code [FC]).  The formal requisites of marriage are (1) authority of the solemnizing officer, (2) a valid marriage license (except in specific instances mentioned under Chapter 2 of the Family Code), and (3) a marriage ceremony which takes place with both of the contracting parties appearing before the solemnizing officer and declaring that they take each other as husband and wife in the presence of not less than two witnesses of legal age. (Article 3, FC).
Although many loosely call all actions for terminating marriage in the Philippines as annulment, the truth is there are several actions that may be instituted to terminate the marriage.
Declaration of Nullity of Marriage
Grounds rendering a marriage “void ab initio” are:

1. those contracted by any party below 18 even with the consent of parents
   or guardians;
2. those solemnized by any person not legally authorized to perform marriage unless either or both parties believed in good faith that the solemnizing officer had the legal authority to do so;
3. those solemnized without a marriage license except those expresslyexempted by law to secure a marriage license;
4. those bigamous or polygamous marriages;
5. those contracted through mistake of one of the contracting parties as to the identity of the other;
6. incestuous marriages as defined in Article 37 of the FC; and
7. void marriages by reason of public policy (i.e. between step-parents and step-children, between adopting parent and adopted child).

An action for the declaration of the absolute nullity of marriage may be instituted at any time and shall not prescribe (Art. 39, FC).
It must be emphasized that although the marriage is void from the beginning, a party cannot unilaterally contract a subsequent marriage with the thought in mind that the previous marriage was invalid.  For example, A and B contracted a marriage with a fake marriage license.  Spouse B who knew that the marriage license was fake contracted a second marriage with C.  Is the marriage between Spouse B and C valid? No!  The marriage between A and B should have first been declared null and void by the Court before Spouse B and C can marry.
Annulment of Marriage

In an Action for Annulment of Marriage, the following marriages may be annulled:

1. that the party in whose behalf it is sought to have the marriage annulled was eighteen years of age or over, but below twenty-one, and the marriage was solemnized without the consent of the parents, guardian or person having substitute parental authority over the party, in that order, unless after attaining the age of twenty-one, such party freely cohabited with the other and both lived together as husband and wife;
2. that either party was of unsound mind, unless such party after coming to reason, freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife;
3. that the consent of either party was obtained by fraud, unless such party
   afterwards, with full knowledge of the facts constituting the fraud, freely
   cohabited with the other as husband and wife;
4. that the consent of either party was obtained by force, intimidation or undue influence, unless the same having disappeared or ceased, such party thereafter freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife;
5. that either party was physically incapable of consummating the marriage with the other, and such incapacity continues and appears to be incurable; or
6. that either party was afflicted with a sexually-transmissible disease found to be serious and appears to be incurable.

The appropriate remedy for these grounds is an action for the annulment of
marriage. Unlike in the first set of grounds above mentioned, an action for the annulment of marriage prescribes; in case of lack of consent, until the party filing for annulment reaches 21;  in case of insanity until the death of either party or the lucid interval of the insane spouse; in case of fraud, force, intimidation or undue influence, incapacity to consummate the marriage or knowledge of the sexually-transmissible disease, within five years from the occurrence of the fraud, force, intimidation or undue influence, incapacity to consummate the marriage or knowledge of the sexually-transmissible disease.
There are at least three other ways to terminate a marriage celebrated in the
Philippines. But I will leave that for a future article. Please submit any questions or concerns regarding this article, as this will serve as the grist of a future Q & A article. Each article on this subject will be headed with the same title (Is there Divorce In the Philippines?), followed by the numeral designating it’s chronology in the series. Hope I was of some help in clarifying dissolution of marriage in The Philippines.

PIRACY and the Filipino Seafarers

A Filipino sailor,  Christopher Cortez Ceprado, was found dead last May 11, 2011 aboard MT Sea King , a Marshall Island-flagged chemical tanker, four days after it was attacked by pirates off the coast of Benin in West Africa. Heavily armed pirates on May 7, 2011  boarded chemical tanker MT Sea King while docked in Cotonou, the largest city in Benin, . Ceprado, who was among the 15 Filipino crewmembers of the ship, was later found dead on May 11. The pirates looted the vessel and even the personal effects of the crew were taken

Ceprado's family hailed from my hometown  of Matabao. Tubigon, Bohol. 

Ceprado's remains came home more than a month after the incident. Legalization of documents were difficult since the nearest Philippine Embassy is far from where the incident occured. compounded by the somewhat slow coordination with the manning agencies and the insurance. Worse, when his cadaver was being flown to the Philippines, customs officials discovered that his legal documents such as  medical records and death certificate were missing in Amsterdam thus his body was not allowed to leave the airport unless all necessary papers are "reconstituted". His body  was originally scheduled to arrive on June 12, 2011 but it reached manila only on June 16, 2011.

This is the recent reported piracy casualty incident involving Filipino sailors in a hostage-taking incident in African waters.   On January 26, 2011 a Filipino crewman of German ship MV Beluga , Mr. Farolito Vallega,was shot and killed by Somali pirates as two anti-piracy naval patrol vessels attempted a rescue mission.

Last February,2011,   i attended a rally in front of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in connection with the death of  Filipino seafarer Vallega in a hostage incident in the Somalia seas.

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The German-owned MV Beluga Nomination was hijacked by Somali pirates 390 nautical miles north of Port Victoria in the Seychelles on January 22, 2011. Onboard the ship were 12 crewmembers, including seven Filipinos. The other crewmembers are of Russian, Ukrainian and Polish descent.  Another Filipino crewman is still reported missing after jumping overboard during the said rescue operation.

These incidents are  reality checks  to the risk faced by seafarers , particularly Filipino seafarers.  The Philippines, which supplies a third of the world’s seafarers’ population, is among the most adversely affected and seriously alarmed by incidences of piracy in the Somali basin and the Gulf of Aden. The hijacking of dozens of vessels, ranging from massive oil tankers to chartered supply ships carrying UN food aid for Somalia, has become a highly lucrative industry with millions of dollars paid in ransom each year.

The Philippines is considered as the major supplier of maritime labor globally. Per Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) data, there were 330,424 Filipino seafarers deployed abroad in 2009 comprising almost 30 percent of the global maritime labor force. Although the number of deployed Filipino seafarers has decreased from 2006 (274,497), 2007 (266,553) to 2008 (261,614), the dollar remittances have been constantly  increasing from US$1.9B in 2006, US$2.2B in 2007 , US$3B in 2008, US$3.4B in 2009 to US$3.8B in 2010.

The Gulf of Aden  leads to the Red Sea and Suez Canal, a vital and one of the most cost-effective  route for trade between Asia and the Middle East, and Europe and North America. The effected area compromises two strategically important choke points. Around 7.5% of world trade travels through the Suez Canal.  The Straits of Hormuz lead to the Arabian Sea and a daily average of 16.5 to 17 million barrels transit through this effected area.  This is 40% of the world’s seaborne oil shipments and 20% of all the world’s oil shipments.There is no existing central government in Somalia. Since the United Nations withdrew in March 1995 without restoring a functioning government, little progress has been made.

Seafarers are on the frontline of the piracy problem. In recent years, thousands of seafarers have been killed, injured, assaulted, taken hostage or threatened as piracy and armed robbery have increased dramatically.. All seafarers transiting the Gulf of Aden and Northern Indian Ocean, have to live with the risk of attack. When ships are attacked by pirates, crews suffer the stress of being fired upon with guns and rocket propelled grenades and those captured can be held hostage for months. Following a piracy attack those involved can be seriously affected by post traumatic stress.

For the shipping industry, costs are soaring due to piracy issues. Operators now face rising insurance premiums for a high risk area.Other costs include installing preventative measures and protection on board, employing private security personnel, as well as  payments.

Worldwide, there have  been 248 attacks so far in 2011 with 28 vessels hijacked. The waters off Somalia continues to remain the most piracy-prone area but the risk to crews and shipping off Nigeria and its neighbouring states is remains high as well. As of January 2011 figures from the  International Maritime Bureau shows that there are over 700  hostages being held on over 30 vessels. However, other figures suggest that the figure could be higher than 800. To date, there are at least 130 Filipino seafarers on board 11 vessels that had been held captive by Somali pirates.

The ICC International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) has issued a warning to vessels in the waters off Benin. Attacks are increasing as there have been eight attacks in total off Cotonou, Benin, so far in 2011 with six taking place since May this year. Of the eight attacks, four vessels were hijacked and two boarded by pirates who robbed ship and crew property and in some cases cargo.

In a paper presented during the recent anti-piracy  conference  held April 2011 in Dubai,   Benin  Ambassador Pamphile  Goutoundji  said "The scourge of piracy is moving to other areas of Africa. My country Benin is one of the unknown victims of this unlawful activity. Because of its geographical position, ( a large coastal side in the Gulf  of Guinea,  hub of maritime transportation in West Africa,  a port of transit for hinterlands countries), Benin has regularly witnessed piracy attacks and threats in her maritime waters."

            As a policy, the Philippine government does not negotiate with nor pay ransom to kidnappers, but gives ship owners the free hand in negotiating for the release of abducted Filipino sailors.

Initially a recommendation in  October  2008  to ban all Filipino seafarers from vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden  was the only solution being considered by the Philippines in order to protect the welfare of its seafarers. However,  the  proposed ban has met strong opposition from local seafarers’ groups and manning agencies  saying this policy would be costly on the maritime industry and will force shipping companies to turn to other nations for manpower. Stakeholders argued that if the Philippines were to suspend the sending of, or limit the travel of, seafarers to the pirate area, that would definitely disrupt world shipping. 

In response, the POEA has issued Governing Board resolutions from 2008 to the current year that declared high risk areas for our seafarers and  that seafarers passing within the declared ‘high risk’ areas shall receive double the amount of their basic wage, overtime pay, and leave pay. They shall also be entitled to a double amount of compensation and benefits in cases of death, injury, or illness while within the said areas. More significantly, the resolution orders the Master to inform the seafarer passing through high risk areas as the voyage is known.

The Governing Board also issued other resolutions relevant to the Somalia piracy issue such as GBR No. 6 (adopting the 5th revision of the IBF High Risk Area for a definition of a new high risk zone); GBR No.5 (allowing the deployment of Filipino seafarers on board vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden on certain conditions); and GBR No.3 (extending the high risk zone coordinates as defined by the IMEC).

In view of the “double pay” resolutions issued by the POEA, any Filipino seafarer who was hostaged is entitled to double the amount of his  basic wage, overtime pay, and leave pay while he is  being held hostaged in Somalia. This is because in essence his contract has not yet been terminated until he has returned back to Philippine soil. However, Ceprado's case might not fall under this double pay scheme since the incident occured in an area not within the declared high risk zone by the POEA.

On January 28, 2010, the POEA issued memorandum circular no. 02, series of 2010, which required seafarers to be deployed to undergo anti-piracy awareness training seminar on practical measures to avoid, deter, or delay piracy attacks as a requirement for the processing of their contract. The course will teach seafarers how to detect approaching pirates and who to communicate with in case of an attack. This, however, will be at no cost to the seafarers.

The Philippines has also been recently admitted as member of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia.  The CGPCS was established on Jan. 14, 2009 pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1851 to facilitate discussion and coordination of action among member-states and organizations to suppress piracy off the coast of Somalia.  Apart from 50 member-states, members of the Contact Group are the African Union, the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the International Maritime Organization and the UN Secretariat. It operates in the Gulf of Aden and off the eastern coast of Somalia covering an area of approximately 1.1 million square miles.

An International Recommended Transit Corridor was later  set up on  February 2009  to protect ships travelling through the Gulf of Aden. In this area, navies from the European Union, China, Russia, India and other nations escort ships and respond to distress calls from vessels under attack. The POEA issued guidelines requiring shipowners, principals, managers, and manning agencies to ensure that vessels with Filipino seafarers should pass only within this declared maritime security patrol area in the Gulf of Aden.

                         In the midst of the pircay issues are the wives and families of these seafarers who suffer from poor, or sometimes non-existent, information about what is being done to protect their loved ones or to secure their release.The International Committee on Seafarers Welfare (ICSW) has been actively conducting   Piracy Awareness seminars for the maritime community focusing on post-traumatic stress reactions and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, taking into account cultural issues, in particular in dealing with distressed family members in incidents which involve their family members. The seminars aimed to enhance the understanding of the complex, comprehensive and changing psychosocial needs created in the aftermath of a critical incident.

            Since the Philippines supplies a third of the world’s seafarers’ population, it will remain as  among the most adversely affected and seriously alarmed by incidences of piracy in the Somali basin and the Gulf of Aden. And hopefully, with the series of protective and preventive measures devised by both the government and private sector, no further bad news will follow the recent death of Filipino seafarer Christopher Cortez Ceprado.

Jan-Jan the crying "macho dancer" kid

bulol ka ba?

      "If I'm King, where's my power? Can I form a government? Can I levy a tax, declare a war? No! And yet I am the seat of all authority. Why?  Because the nation believes that when I speak, I speak for them. But I  can't speak."  One of my favorite quotes from the film "King's Speech" 

The movie tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ('Bertie') reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded stammer and considered unfit to be king, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country through war.

I guess the closest Filipino word  that can be associated with stammering, or stuttering, is "bulol" or "may pagkabulol"

  While watching the film,  I remember when i was younger  i admit  i am somewhat  "bulol "I had fear of public speaking even inside the classroom.  when i delivered my speech during third year high school recognition day, i felt my speech as first honors was a disaster because of my nervousness. I heard several negative reactions particularly in the "clarity" aspect. i then enrolled in speech clinic that summer in preparation for a possible valedictory speech the next school year.

 Many famous people and some singers are also afflicted with stuttering and were able to stop stuttering.

During the 2010 State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Noynoy Aquino received 36 claps and 6 instances of pagka-bulol within his 36 min speech. Thus, P-Noy has an average of 1 clap per minute, and he is  /"nabubulol" every 6 minutes during his SONA.

Stuttering is a common type of speech disorder, which is much like lisping, except you have trouble getting words out, or repeat them over and over.Stuttering has been known to have high negative impacts on hundreds of people, which sometimes results in self-abuse or in cases, even suicide. If you stutter, you may feel depressed, alone, or angry at yourself.

Experts say that the most effective was to address this issue is to find the cause,how it can be controlled, and how to live with it. Understand that it doesn't reflect your intelligence or mean that you are stupid or disabled.

Demosthenes, a Greek thinker, used to speak with rocks in his mouth to improve his stuttering. Hmmm i guess it might be worth trying with something clean, safe and edible, such as cookies or ice cubes. Be careful!

 Most likely your friends and family know you stutter, so practice reading something aloud. As soon as you stutter, restart, this time at a slower speed. One method that helps control stuttering is slowing down, and holding your stomach out, while at the same time sucking in. This helps control your voice, and your tone.At the beginning of a sentence, make the A or E longer, than the other words. Practice with sentence: "Adam likes to eat apples and earthworms."

One of the exercises done was to have a conversation with yourself in front of the mirror. It may sound silly, but it does help by overexaggerating the words as I  speak.

Overcoming  pagkabulol is really a challenge for me  due to my initiial fear of public speaking. However,  through the years, public speaking became part of my legal profession. I love sharing my legal knowledge to others. At present, I am   a  lecturer on trademark law as well as international maritime law (Maritime Labor Convention 2006) for the MCLE. I likewise conduct Paralegal Seminars on   Legal Rights of the Seafarers in coordination with the church-based Apostleship of the Sea (AOS) all over the Philippines involving the almost a hundred maritime schools as well as the migrants' desk of diocese or parish, or any seafarers’ wives/families groups. The biggest crowd i had was in Antique with almost a thousand maritime students inside their gym.