—Tristram Stuart
By Alex P. Vidal
THE Philippine Government should seriously study the suggestion made by New York-based Dr. Emilio Quines Jr., diplomate of the American Association of Family Medicine, to adopt an organic waste disposal and conversion method for Filipinos.
Dr. Quines, 83, is suggesting that we use a machine that will convert organic waste into clean biogas for cooking, heating and lighting, as well as organize crop fertilizer.
Biogas is an environmentally-friendly, renewable energy source produced by the breakdown of organic matter such as food scraps and animal waste.
Dr. Quines pointed to the family-size TevaGas (TG) backyard units, available as an easy-to-assemble kit, generate safe energy and fertilizer through bacterial anaerobic digestion of organic waste such as food scraps and animal manure.
HomeBioGas’s TevaGas (TG) device is the first family-sized digester made available on the market, which, according to Marketing Director Ami Amir, “is as easy to use as a dish-washer.”
The method provides a sustainable solution for off-grid urban and rural families, as well as environmentally conscious homeowners and small farm owners, in warmer climates.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that up to four million people die from the direct and indirect effects of cooking with solid fuels, like wood, charcoal and coal.
This staggering statistic hadn’t come to the attention of the Israeli inventors of the HomeBioGas system, until the information was pointed out to them by none other than United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
During a visit with former Israeli President Reuben Rivlin, Ban expressed the global need for a sustainable and safe solution to this dire issue, naming Israel’s HomeBioGas’s digester as a very viable answer.
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Fighting From A Distance is a book written by Filipino-American activist Jose V. Fuentecilla. I met Fuentecilla at the Madison Square Park in New York City nine years ago.
In his book, Fuentecilla chronicled how his fellow Filipino exiles helped topple the dictatorship in the 1986 EDSA Revolution.
“When (former Philippine President Ferdinand Edralin) Marcos Sr. was curtailing the freedom of the press, we were already here in the United States together with (the late former Senator Raul) Manglapus and other opposition leaders,” Fuentecilla told this writer.
The University of Illinois graduate of communication studies was among the pre-cursors of the opposition movement in the United States during the Martial Law.
“In my book, I narrated our struggles and how we fought the dictatorship outside the Philippines where press freedom was among the first casualties during the Martial Law,” he explained.
The “People Power” in 1986 served as the inspiration for oppressed citizens to rise up as demonstrated by the peaceful revolts of the Arab Spring and the fall of the Berlin Wall, Fuentecilla recalled.
“Much has been documented about how the Filipinos achieved their historic feat on their home ground, on their own,” he wrote in the book.
“Much less is known about how groups of Filipinos living overseas, mostly in the USA, helped in this effort. Now for the first time, a book-length history describes their role.”
Fuentecilla’s book was first released in May 2013 by the University of Illinois Press.
It describes the personalities, the politics, the perils of conducting a US-based campaign against a powerful regime. And how they ultimately succeeded.
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Here’s the University of Illinois Press interview on Fuentecilla in relation to the book:
During February of 1986, a grassroots revolution overthrew the dictatorship of Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos. Jose V. Fuentecilla was involved in the anti-Marcos movement in the United States. Fuentecilla answered our questions about his new book Fighting from a Distance: How Filipino Exiles Helped Topple a Dictator.
Q: As a native of the Philippines who emigrated to the United States in 1968, how did you first view the Marcos regime?
Fuentecilla: When I completed my graduate communication studies at University of Illinois, I had plans to return home to apply what I learned. One of Marcos’ first decrees after imposing his dictatorship was to muzzle the press and imprison journalists. So, heck! Why enter the lion’s den?
Q: Were you surprised by the increasing measures the Marcos regime took leading to the 1972 declaration of martial law?
Fuentecilla: No. It was inevitable that he had to do what he did in order to consolidate his power — restrict the press, round up oppositionists and throw them into prison, dissolve Congress, employ the military establishment as his personal police, weaken the judiciary, etc.
Q: How did you become personally involved in the anti-Marcos movement?
Fuentecilla: At the founding convention of our group in Washington DC in 1973, whose history is the subject of my book, I was elected the first Secretary General. Hence I was an on-the-ground participant of the Movement from its birth.
Q: Were there many Filipino immigrants who supported the declaration of martial law?
Fuentecilla: The Marcos regime was very successful in intimidating immigrant relatives and their friends to refrain from joining opposition groups in the U.S. Reports of roundups of oppositionists back home gave the impression that if they participated in any U.S.-based anti-Marcos activities, their kin back home will suffer consequences. As a result, our movement could not mobilize a large following.
Q: What was the most shocking event to affect the movement during the Marcos regime?
Fuentecilla: The assassination on August 21, 1983 of a Filipino Senator (Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino) who returned to Manila on that date after three years in the USA for a heart operation. His murder at the airport upon his arrival was the spark that led to a gathering “people power” revolution that finally forced the Marcos family to flee the country in 1986.
Q: How much resistance did the exiles encounter from the U.S. government in their attempts to lobby for anti-Marcos policy?
Fuentecilla: Lobbying the U.S. government to limit military aid to the Marcos regime because of its rampant human rights abuses was the focus of their activities. We won allies in Congress but the White House administration, concerned that Marcos will retaliate against the U.S. bases in the Philippines for any military aid reductions, continued to support his regime in the 14 years that he was in power. Indeed it was this support that prolonged his rule. Ironically, it was a U.S. helicopter that flew him out of Manila and gave him refuge in Hawaii where he died.
Q: Did the Movement for a Free Philippines lean any particular way ideologically?
Fuentecilla: There were two main groups opposing the regime in the U.S.– one allied with a leftist militant armed anti-Marcos New People’s Army operating throughout the
Philippines; the other was our group which preferred a non-violent return to democracy by various groups of society: students, workers, businessmen, the clergy, etc.
Q: Did you reflect at all on your experiences “fighting from a distance” when you saw the wave of political change that resulted in the Arab Spring?
Fuentecilla: Yes, as we watched the triumphant masses overthrowing dictators with minimal bloodshed, we said, “Been there! Done that!” It has been cited many times that the Philippine “People Power” revolution of some 20 years ago was the template of the Arab Spring.
Talib Kweli once said, “There's a lot of activism that doesn't deal with empowerment, and you have to empower yourself in order to be relevant to any type of struggle.”
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)
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