Hong Kong University Students' Union (HKUSU) Exposure Trip : Philippines 香港大學學生會 藍帽子 周游列國 : 「尋找菲律賓的故事」

am - Visit Peasants in San Mateo, in the suburb province of Bulacan, north of Manila N.B. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has 5 projects relating to Agriculture and Natural Resources.

pm - Visit and participate in the picketline at the Grand Hotel

Night - Cultural Night of songs, dances, and games at the University of the Philippines Student Union at Diliman, Quezon City, and then at the Kamuning Bar

我地繼續去了解民困We visited peasants of San Mateo, in the suburb province of Bulacan, north of Manila. From Left: Dax of Kamiyan, Jen of SCMP, _ guy in black T-shirt, Jasper the ponytail-guy (our guide for this event) of another organisation called KMP (see below), Fe, the lady-owner of this town house (preparing ice-cold orange juice - typical Filipino Hospitality), _ chairwoman of the San Mateo peasants' organisation, _ official of the peasants' organisation.	Another view of the briefing, done in the court-yard of this brick town house. The official in pink needed translation from Jasper the ponytail-guy. (NB: Official means that of an NGO, not government official).
Girls of Trip001 then greeted the girl next door. How did they befriend this girl?	This girl was cooking in front of the toilet of their home. Her parents had gone to the field, leaving her to look after the younger brothers.
The door of this girl's wooden home. Note the electricity, and the elevation of house.	Front door of the more well-to-do Holgado Family. What is the situation of this neighbourhood, if the door can be left unlocked?
Koen and Anthony in front of our host's court-yard. This photo was mirrored, trimmed, to show 苗嘴走人 How did the male students behave after the previous day of activism?	Ah Yan, Charriol (and her newly acquired yellow McDonald Dog - in fact Yan, Connie and Eleanor all acquired certain Batch 3 McDonald Doll, which are not yet available in HK and which are much more cheaper because HK$1=Peso5), and Jen of SCMP.
Our jeepney went uphill to reach the bamboo hut and jeepney of an uphill barangay (an autonomous local administrative unit, consisting of a number of sitio, each with 15 families). This official was locally elected and bear a foot-long knife, which can be used to cut trees or for self-defence against the encroaching landlord-politicians from the central government.	Our jeepney went further uphill to Lita's bamboo hut, where we would begin to trek. A relaxing moment for Tempo, Koen, Anthony, Ah Yan and Charriol. Does Tempo has a dimple? What are the meanings of the gestures by Yan and Charriol?
Our trek uphill.	Jump the stream - What an excellent opportunity to grasp hold of Charriol's hand? In the language of southern Fujian and Taiwan, "holding hands" 牽手 already means marriage - see Apple Daily 000317. Does personal conservatism necessarily means political conservatism?
Ah Yan jumped not so well but succeeded, while Jasper the ponytail-guy and Connie pondered their turns.	Eleanor almost lost her balance! Can the middle-aged Chairwoman of the peasants' organisation successfully jump the stream without a helping hand?
We paused underneath a mango tree, with a typical bamboo hut (with a balcony) behind us. What will happen in a typhoon?	We then reached the bamboo hut of the Vice-Chairman, Ca-imo (meaning Cadet Imo - note the Communist terminology). Note also the shared cost of electricity for the 13 families in this sitio. By deduction, 2 families have no electricity. How can the Philippine Government, ADB or HKUSU help? Note Tempo's little ponytail 小媽辮.
Ca-imo built a 100m water pipe to lead water into his hut. An average Philippine family has 6 members and 2-3 hectares of land. It is important that they should organise themselves to defend against the encroachment of the landlord-politicians (see below).	We finally reached the bamboo hut of the Chairwoman, who operates a small store at the side-window of her hut.
We then took a short cut by climbing a slippery 45-degree slope. Here we panted at the bed of a bamboo hut with no walls. How come Connie did not pant?	亨受天然美食 - Tempo 用手食, after washing her hands, back at Lita's bamboo-hut. Food was laid on banana leaves, and each of us are purposed to squatter a "spot" at the edge of the leaf as a "plate". Note the Filipino spelling of the peasants' organisation on the broad.
Koen and Charriol demonstrated how to eat with their right-hand. Note that Charriol had used Peso 43 (=HK$8.60) to eat and get the new yellow McDonald Dog.	Assessment session outside Lita's balcony - led by Jasper the ponytail-guy.
See below for the recommendations of Connie, Eleanor, Tempo, Yan, and Charriol.	Solidarity with the Filipino peasants, in front of Lita's bamboo table. One peasant held up his foot-long knife, but was quickly persuaded to desist. How come there have been so many armed peasant struggles (many unreported) in Chinese history? What are the roles of Filipino students in helping the peasants to express themselves via peaceful means?
We then returned to Manila City, and investigated if we should "help" 聲援 the striking workers of the Grand Boulevard Hotel (by the Manila Bay). Here, Yan, Charriol, Koen and Anthony greeted the union chairman Danny.	Here, Tempo, Charriol, Yan, Koen, Eleanor and Connie listened to the union chairman Danny.
Trip001 decided to "help" 聲援 the Filipino workers in Manila - probably the first in HK's history!	Trip001 joined the rally, with placards written in English e.g. Reinstate All Employees.
參加遊行顯公義 - 媽辮女 ponytail-girl Tempo showed her sense of righteousness by joining the rally. Would you help the striking workers of the Housing Authority in HK? Would you join the rally to ask Beijing to release Zhao Ziyang from house-arrest? What is the name of the crime for which Zhao is put under house-arrest? Is the name of crime 莫須有?	The workers were also helped by KMU (see Day3 for its meaning), and the students (between their classes from the Philippine Normal College, and the Philippine Polytechnic). Was the female student on the right the same as that one nabbed in Manila Hotel in Day3? Why do the Filipino students take the risk for the workers?
Unlike the Manila Hotel, Grand Hotel did not, for most of the time, call in the police. But its own security men watched and videoed us.	Why didn't Beijing call in the police when 3 HK students conveyed the message from the HK Federation of Students? Why has Beijing adopted the "nip opposition in the bud" policy against its own students? Photo from HKUSU.
Ah Yan and Anthony with the union chairman Danny and the vice- chairman. Trip001 wished Grand Hotel and its workers solve the problem peacefully very soon, and to see Danny back in the frontdesk.	On their way back to Titus Center, why did members of Trip001, and their hosts, felt so happy in the crowded jeepney (with no air-conditioning)? From Left: Eleanor, Tempo, _ black-T-shirt-guy, Koen, Dax, Jen, Yan, Charriol (and her yellow McDonald Dog), Connie.
We then went to the University of the Philippines (UP) at Diliman, which is the cradle of Philippine student movements and alma mater of many Philippine presidents (including the now infamous Marcos). After a dinner cooked by Tony of LSF and eaten in front of the UP Students Union in Vinsin Hall, we had the candle-light Cultural Night in the Sinking Graden. Here Yan sang a song 唱歌 , How would you like Charriol's yellow McDonald Dog?	The Cultural Night at UP extended to Kamuning Bar, where Johnny Llave, National Deputy Secretary of SCMP, and Koen performed a Break Dance 跳舞. Koen also played the drums with the 2 students from the UP College of Music (which formed the Band of Workers' Music).

1. We were told by the SAMASAMA (acronym for Samahan Ng Maosasaka Sa San Mateo, meaning the San Mateo Peasants' Organisation), through Jasper the ponytail-guy of KMP (meaning the Peasants Movement of the Philippines) as our interpretor, that the landlord-politicians (remember the 1,000 families mentioned in Day2) encroached on their land under the pretext of development.

2. More specifically, the landlord-politicians were Villar, Puyat and Araneta. On our way from Titus Center to San Mateo, we saw Newtown Countryclub on the right and Northridge Housing Project on the left. These were said to be built on land illegally grasped from the peasants.

3. Landlord-politicians had applied to the court for a declaration that the peasants' land was exempted from the Philippine laws on agrarian reforms. With the help of many groups, the peasants' group won an initial battle in the court; but the fight has been elevated to the higher court.

4. In the meantime, the landlords' security guards were said to have killed 4 peasants. And one of the peasant leaders was now in jail in Malolos, the provincial capital of Bulacan.

5. Various NGO groups had founded a super-alliance called BAYAN (meaning people, but is acronym for Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, meaning New Patriotic Alliance), of which LFS, KMP (of which SAMASAMA is a member organisation), KMU (itself an alliance or federation of NGOs like Glowhrain for the workers) etc. are member organisation.

a. Tempo noted that it was hard to reach the sitio.

b. Eleanor suggested building a better road to the sitio from the town.

c. Ah Yan was concerned that the bamboo huts were not secure enough.

d. Charriol suggested improvement to the farming technology

e. Anthony asked why not develop BAYAN into a political party and vote peasants' representatives into the formal constitutional process?

f. Anthony also asked why the Philippine government, i.e. the Department of Agrarian Reform, did not give the land title to the peasants?

g. Anthony suggested writing to the ADB, which has 5 projects relating to Agriculture and Natural Resources.

1. Like those in Mendiola and Manila Hotel, the workers at Grand Hotel were supported by many groups, including students

2. Because police was not called in, the scene at the Grand Hotel was very peaceful and did not attract much media attention.

a. This is the right approach of handling peaceful rallies.

b. The same approach was adopted by Beijing towards the 3 HK students conveying the message from the HK Federation of Students.

c. Further question can be asked as to why HK students have not participated more actively in social movements, as their Filipino couterpart. Perhaps the social/political awareness of HK students in general are not so high.

d. While the May 4th Student Movement in Peking University in Beijing had helped communism to rise, it was ironic that the Chinese Communists had chosen to supress the June 4th Student Movement in Beijing, which hoped to usher in democracy for China.

e. What is the name of the crime for which Zhao is put under house-arrest? Is it called the crime of 莫須有.

This website is the 3rd draft designed and written for the HKUSU by Anthony C.H. CHUA 蔡誌慶, PhD Student in Law, HKU, and member of Trip001, on 10 March 2000 (then 26 March 2000, 8 Mar 2001) pending formal approvals from the Trip members and from HKUSU, and pending linkage/transfer to the HKUSU website. (please see acknowledgement section in FrontPage)