Kindness

PINOY KASI
Kindness
By Michael Tan
Inquirer
Last updated 01:30am (Mla time) 08/09/2006

Published on Page A13 of the August 9, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

I WON'T name the province because I've already contacted the authorities there, hoping they'll do something. I'm writing about this here with the suspicion that this is happening all over the country, and hoping readers will do their part, in their own hometowns.

Last week I was in one of those picture-perfect resorts with a Dutch university professor and her daughter, combining work with a bit of a vacation. We had it all: sun, sea, surf and more.

There were, foremost, the children. They'd pass by alone or in groups, some of the bolder ones coming up to talk. Long after they'd left, we could still hear their chatter, their laughter.

Adding to the warmth of these scenes were the dogs. Early mornings were the best time to catch them, some accompanying children to school, others roaming in groups, occasionally wrestling each other. As with people, there were some laggards too, curled up and sleeping late. Still others were the solitary types, walking alone as if in deep contemplation.

The resort itself had three dogs, which would come around every now and then to play with the guests, coaxing us to give them a quick massage. The resort's visitors, mostly foreigners, were only too happy to oblige.

Dark clouds

So it went, with no one expecting to see so soon this paradise disintegrating.

The dark clouds began to gather on the second day of our stay. My visitors and I were strolling through one of the villages. It was around 1 p.m. and we had just visited the "barangay" [village] chapel and lighthouse. As we approached one of the houses, we could hear a man's voice getting louder and louder, full of anger as he scolded several small children in his yard.

The father was clearly working himself into an uncontrollable rage. One of the children began whimpering, and then the beating began. I looked back and could see him dragging the child into his hut. The child ran out of the hut and got another beating, accompanied by a torrent of curses.

All this was happening close to a school and some kids watched but kept their distance, a decision our group took as well. For all our talk about Filipino community spirit, we generally try not to intrude into domestic affairs. But I did make a mental note of the incident and planned to take it up with contacts in the health department.

That night I tried not to think of the child-beating as we entertained more visitors: a Dutch journalist, his Filipino wife, their two kids and some of her relatives. For the children, it was love at first sight when they saw the resort's dogs. Dinner for the children became more of token nibbling, interrupted by more playing with the dogs. After the visitors left, I took a stroll by the beach and found several sand paintings, mixed with the footprints of the children and the dogs.

Protecting tourists

The next day, my visitors and I went into town for a bit of sightseeing. It passed uneventfully except at one point where the Dutch professor noticed a policeman with a rifle. She shivered and said, "I don't like that." In Europe, people don't run around carrying arms, not even policemen. My friend had lived in Manila several years back and was used to seeing armed security guards, but it did seem strange seeing an armed man in a quiet rural area.

Time passed quickly and soon it was time for my visitors to leave. The morning of their departure, I went off for a walk as the visitors packed up. But the morning calm was suddenly shattered by the most heartrending cries of a dog. It went on for a few seconds, so I knew it wasn't a dog hurting from a small accident. And then there was silence.

As I walked toward the street to check what was going on, it seemed as if a tape recorder had been turned on again to replay the entire agonizing scene, except that this time I could also hear dull sounds indicating a dog was being beaten to death.

I decided not to look, partly because my visitors had by then come down with their bags and we needed to leave for the airport. I didn't want to upset their stay so I didn't tell them what happened. As we loaded their bags into the resort van, we saw a group of armed men again. My visitor again shivered, "They shouldn't have armed people around in resorts."

I got back to the resort in the evening. Over dinner, I realized the resort dogs weren't around. My heart sank as I wondered if they had been the ones killed. To my relief, I found out they were safe, but they were under leash, kept hidden for the meantime by their worried owner.

Two dogs had indeed been killed that morning right outside the resort. The residents said there's a municipal ordinance that allows policemen to shoot stray dogs. "Dog-hunting to protect the tourists," one resident said, then added, smiling, "It's also pulutan [bar chow]."

Back in Manila I finally told the visitors about what had happened and they agreed it was important that I write about the incidents. We have questions for the authorities -- the local government officials as well as those in the hotel and tourism industry. What does all this say about us as a people when fathers beat up their children totally without shame even as visitors pass by their homes? What does it say about Filipinos when we protect tourists by deploying armed men who go around, shooting and beating dogs to death?

What's happening to our child protection laws, our Bantay Bata [Child Watch] programs? Why is the country's Animal Welfare Act being violated by law enforcers themselves? If indeed dog-slaughtering is meant as a public health measure, why not adopt the civilized ways -- rounding up and impounding the dogs first and giving owners a chance to claim them.

We spend millions advertising the Philippines as a "Wow" place for tourists and foreigners who want to retire. But all it takes is one zealous child advocate, or one animal rights activist, to witness what I saw and put the stories on the Internet, and foreign newspapers and people will associate the Philippines not with white sand beaches and sunny smiles, but with images of abused children and dogs beaten to death.

Yes, it's a tough and violent world out there. But I wonder if the child abuse and dog-slaughtering are signs that we're not only becoming desensitized to violence, but also actually now enjoy blood and gore. After the two dogs were killed, I could hear people running around shouting, "Patay! Patay!" ["Dead! Dead!"], with the same kind of perverted delight and cheers you hear from the crowds during cockfights and boxing.

Now I hear proposals to include boxing in elementary schools nationwide. Enough of this nonsense. What we need are more teachers promoting child welfare, environmental conservation, including the protection of animals. All the more now, we need to do something about our growing callousness. Let's do this for ourselves, for a kinder nation, a kinder world.