Past Events
Manila Times
January 16, 2000
LOOKING back on the last millennium, significant events took place that I can
never forget. Recent discoveries and revelations have made these events urgently
relevant once again today. Relevant not only to me and the staff of the PREDA
Foundation in Olongapo City, where we care for abused children and campaign for
their rights, but relevant for all Filipinos wherever electric power cables,
transformers and electromagnetic radiation have invaded their
neighborhood and their lives, threatening them with sickness and death.
The most vulnerable of all are children whose cells are still dividing and growing and when huge cables were erected outside the PREDA Children's Home, we had to protest and try to prevent the erection of the power cables. Here is the story of that protest and why it is still relevant today.
It was June 13,1996, more than two months after we had begun our protest and
picket against the APEC power project. The Olongapo police attacked and broke up
our picket, destroyed our banners and placards and dispersed our supporters. We
were protesting the dangers of electric magnetic radiation to children emanating
from electric power cables erected outside the PREDA
Children’s Home. All our letters to President Ramos, the National Power
Corporation officials, the mayor of Olongapo, Kate Gordon and many more were
ignored. We had erected a strong platform 40-foot high on a needle shaped pylon
and spread our banners and a signboards around the base.
When darkness had fallen, police in t-shirts came up in a box mounted on a crane to the platform. The police jumped on our platform, nearly tearing it from its moorings , then beat and kicked me and my Filipino companion and robbed us of a camera and cell phone.
We were double handcuffed arms twisted behind our backs and brought down. Police Superintendent Nicasio Radovan, before several witnesses, including a priest friend, kicked me and had me thrown into the back of a police van.
Mr. Alex Hermoso, our program director was also robbed and gun point by a policeman. Taken from him were his camera and handheld radio as he stood at the roadside witnessing and trying to get help.
At the police station, I and my friend Lowell were left handcuffed bruised and beaten. We were illegally detained, interrogated by police and lawyer named Antonio Leyco of a, Zambales, supposedly a supporter of Gordon. After we were released, we filed our formal complains, with all the evidence, before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
The provincial office of the CHR ruled in our favor. He said there was facie evidence that our rights were violated. He said it was evident that we were mauled, illegally arrested and unlawfully detained and Respondents are the commanders 19 policemen of the Olongapo City Police Force.
The pylon protest caught the attention of the world media and major sheets ran the pictures of our platforms and streamers. The European Union Parliamentarians; meeting in Brussels', made a strong statement on our behalf to the Ramos administration and Gordon.
"The European Parliament welcomes the action of Father Shay Cullen and colleagues in the war against child prostitution. It calls on the Philippine government to protect them and confirm human rights and the rule of law.
This happened a few months before 'the APEC conference was held at the Subic Bay Free Port. Richard Gordon was the chairman of the SBMA. President Fidel Ramos was relying on Mr. Gordon to make the APEC summit of world leaders the greatest show on earth before the world media. No cost was too much, no sacrifice too great to, make this the showpiece of that regime.
It was during this time when the National Power Corporation came in for a bit of the action. Together with the Olongapo City government under Mayor Kate Gordon, and Chairman Gordon decided to erect an unnecessary very expensive to the government and environmentally ugly and dangerous to children.
We appealed to the NPC to divert one pylon, away from the children’s center onto a safe and cheaper place but, they. said Mayor Gordon objected and would not allow it.
It was unnecessary because there was already a perfectly good and
functional 69 KV power line (still functional today) passing over the hills and
cemetery along as safe route to feed electric power to the free port.
The additional power line was over designed. ;It used huge pylons and 230 kV cables way beyond the modest requirements of a 69 KV line. The National Power Corporation admitted this, but could offer no reasonable explanation during a congressional committee meeting called to investigate.
It was grossly disadvantageous to the government. One interesting thing about
this whole affair. While Gordon would not allow the NPC to divert the cables
away from the Children's Home, he did divert them away from the Gordon’s private
property at Gordon Park.
