An Experiment in Happiness

By SARAH LAKE
September 21, 2006

Do you really know what happiness is?

We all seem to be striving for this concept called 'happiness' but what is it really? After all, how many people do you know who are truly happy?

What does it take to be 'happy' for more than just a brief or transient period? Until we can answer these questions we are effectively 'stabbing in the dark', going from one thing to another hoping to find that elusive goal!

How can we ever hope to achieve it if we don't know what it is? But where do we start?

An Experiment in Happiness

OK - Happiness - we all know about 'happiness', don't we?

Well, we all know it exists, and we all know that we are trying to achieve it - even if some of us have forgotten this - it is what we are reaching for, in whatever way we can, right?

But what is this 'elusive' thing called happiness - I mean, REALLY, what is it?

Think about that for a moment. If it was obvious we would all have it, right??! But, take a look around you; how many people do you see that are really happy?

Endless words have been written about it, books and films have been portraying it since time immemorial - people have lived whole lives searching for it and died in the name of it. But WHAT is it?

We all know that it's something we want - it's almost a foregone conclusion that it's what we are all striving for - but how many of us really know what it is, what it would take for us to be truly happy??

You might immediately think, 'Oh, it's love', or it's 'having children', or it's 'being healthy' or it's 'being rich' - and while those things may well contribute to your feeling of contentment - do they, in themselves, really bring happiness?? The answer to that must surely be 'No' otherwise there would not be so many unhappy people in the world.

Well, let's take a look at this from another angle then. Let's take a look at what is it that makes us UNHAPPY? I bet if you sat down for a few minutes and just listed out the things in life that you feel unhappy about it would be much easier to do - right?

OK - so, it's easier to list out all the things are make us unhappy - so let's start there!

Try this experiment - just make a list of all the things that upset you or make you unhappy. Don't hold out - just list out everything that you can think of.

Alright - now that you have your list in front of you - take each point on the list and work out what the OPPOSITE of that would be.

For example: let's say you wrote down that one of the things that makes you unhappy is the state of the government - so what is it about the government that you don't like? Maybe it's the fact that you feel that they don't listen to what it is that the 'common people' need and want - or maybe it's because you don't feel that they are running the country in a way that helps the average person have a good standard of living - or that you think that they are not stopping crime or you think that they don't do anything effective to help the homeless or unemployed. What ever it is that you don't like about it, just jot this down.

Another example might be that you don't like the way that other people treat you. OK - so what is it about the way that others treat you that you don't like?

Or maybe you get upset by the fact that your work environment is not as good as it could be, or your relationship with your parents could be better, or the way the planet is being polluted worries you.

Whatever you can think of that makes you unhappy, just write it down - be as specific as you can and don't worry if it doesn't seem to 'make sense' - put it on your list anyway.

NOW: Once you've completed the list take each point and ask yourself this question; 'What is the OPPOSITE to this - if this point makes me unhappy then by turning it around and looking at it from the other side what would be the opposite of that - because it is THAT opposite that would actually contribute to your happiness - do you see?

For example - you don't like the way your colleagues treat you at work - this makes you unhappy. You've noted down that the thing you really don't like is the way they speak to you and treat you as though you are less important than they are.

OK - so let's turn that around. IF your colleagues spoke to you with common courtesy and treated you with respect and listened to your opinion and in doing so make you feel that you were important to them, wouldn't that make you happier about your work colleagues?

Or - if one of the things you wrote down that makes you unhappy is that you don't like 'lazy people' or people who tell lies, or the fact that there is poverty in the world - then just note down the opposites of those things, or the concept that these represent.

By doing this you are starting to answer your own questions about what happiness is. Because it goes without saying that if you don't know the answer to this question - 'What makes me happy' then how on earth can you ever expect to achieve it??!

Knowing WHAT you are trying to achieve is the FIRST step to getting there - right?

Feel free to send any comments or thoughts on this as I'm really interested in hearing back on what you discover doing this experiment!

A battle won

By BRYAN M. AZURA
September 19, 2006

The recent voting in the Lower House on the impeachment complaints lodged against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is an affirmation that a battle has been won fairly and squarely.

First, it was a personal victory. President Arroyo, though she had been showing confidence when faced to public, yet, she must have been struggling about the complaints against her whenever she enters privately in her room. The president will be very much hypocrite if she only thinks of the impeachment whenever she is being asked about it. Definitely, in her personal, private times, she had been thinking about it. Now that Congress turned the allegations down through a 150+ to 31 vote, surely she can now go to sleep with peace in her thoughts.

Secondly, it was victory over her detractors. Fact of the matter is, a year ago, when the same set of complains was lodged against her, over 50 Congressmen agreed that the complaints be passed on to the Senate. Despite the repeated claims of the opposition that they can get through with the 79 required votes for an impeachment transmittal to the Senate, yet, they ended up short of the necessary number. A year after, that over 50 lawmakers was even reduced to 31. What does that mean? More than 20 of them do not believe in the complaints anymore. With that, the President can conclude that more Congressmen believe in her legitimacy as the head of the land.

But most importantly, it was a battle won against stagnation. Governor Ben P. Evardone, prior to the resumption of Congress, have called upon the chamber to expedite the dispensation of the complaints filed in the Committee of Justice. He urged it due to the simple fact that the Philippine Economy is not moving. In other words, it is stagnating. Our leadership had been somehow preoccupied with the issue that in many instances, economic programs and policies are left unattended. The Congress itself could hardly bring about the 2006 budget. The president herself lost hope on it that she just requested the Congress to pass a supplemental budget for this year to finance the economic programs of the government. In this call, Governor Evardone, together with pro-economic government officials, succeeded in hoping for an immediate resolution on the impeachment complains.

With the battle won, now the government can proceed to its next battle – the battle versus poverty… and hopefully the government will again emerge victorious.

On the Death of Bibiano Rentillosa: Respect International Humanitarian Law!

A Press Statement by KATUNGOD-SB-KARAPATAN
September 15, 2006

Introduction

Even though we (in KATUNGOD-SB) are under attack by the fascists-militarists in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the US-Arroyo regime as evidenced by their recent public pronouncements and the actual physical threats to our human rights organization, we cannot stay mum and idle on issues concerning human rights and international humanitarian laws happening within the region and the country.

As an independent human rights monitoring body, we must speak out to counter lies and half-truths being peddled by the propagandists of the armed forces, especially regarding the issue on the widespread political killings, as the Arroyo administration advance its total war against insurgency.

This week in the local, national and international news, the government armed forces rejoiced on the killing of Bibiano Rentillosa, said to be the secretary of the Northern Leyte Front of the Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee at the same time commander of the New People’s Army, by government operatives at Sitio Taghoy, Brgy Libertad, Kananga, Leyte last September 11, 2006. The operation was headed by Second Lieutenants Luel Adrian Benedicto and Arañez of the Alpha Company, 19th Infantry Battalion, 8th Infantry Division, Philippine Army stationed at Brgy Aguiting, Kananga, Leyte. [see news]

Initial Facts Gathered by KATUNGOD-SB

Based on the facts which were received by the secretariat of the regional human rights alliance, the residents-informants (names withheld for security reasons) have another version on the incident. The initial report included the following details:

Our Position

Considering this initial information, Bibiano Rentillosa was not killed in an encounter/firefight but was captured alone while bathing by a company of soldiers and was brutally killed thereafter.

The video footage of the ABS-CBN Tacloban showing Rentillosa’s dead body – wet and without his T-shirt, which confirms this initial report that he was taking a bath when captured.

From this turn of events, he was clearly a victim of a summary execution, in Filipino-English, he was ‘salvaged’ by government troops.

The soldiers justified his death by claiming he was killed in a firefight where he was allegedly along with 30 NPA combatants. Bibiano Rentillosa was, according to the AFP, an NPA commander/leader. If indeed he died with three of his men as the soldiers alleged, where then are the bodies of these NPA red fighters?  Why would the NPA fighters leave their leader’s body behind for the soldiers to parade around as a ‘war trophy’?

The act of killing of a combatant who is in no position to fight and defend himself in combat is a blatant violation of the International Humanitarian Law (or IHL, particularly Protocol 2).  IHL clearly provides the rights of the civilians, delineation between civilians and combatants, and the rights of hors de’ combat – those combatants who have in no position to defend themselves in combat like the prisoners of war, wounded persons and those who surrendered.

Historically, elements of the 19th IB PA have a clear record of violating IHL. This army unit killed several civilians in the past as they advanced their counter-insurgency operations, as in the following cases:

Our Call

This unjustified killing of Rentillosa should not pass without us being concerned and alarmed.  We are therefore calling on an independent investigation on this incident in order to dig on the circumstances which lead to the death of Bibiano Rentillosa.  His body needs to be autopsied.  The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) should act on this incident, as well us on the mounting incidents of killings of progressive mass leaders.

We also call on the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and the international community to conduct their independent investigations in order to uncover the truth and give justice to his brutal death.

- Related News:  No haven for CPP/NPA/NDF in Northern Leyte

Justice for victims of enforced disappearances! Justice for all victims of human rights violations!

A Press Statement of the DESAPARECIDOS on International Day of the Disappeared
August 30, 2006

Of the 181 victims of enforced disappearance since Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed power in 2001, not one has surfaced nor was taken full accountability for by their perpetrators. Worse, the government dismissed the urgency and gravity of the matter by hastily releasing statements that the missing persons were victims of an alleged purging of the CPP-NPA.

Such unfounded declarations are greatly insulting for us families of the disappeared, firstly because it belittles the cruelty of enforced disappearance to both the missing and those that were left behind. Second, because it maliciously implies that the victims were members of the CPP-NPA, and thus, are not in need of 'rescuing' nor humanitarian compassion.

Worse, enforced disappearances under Mrs. Arroyo could run up to the record of the Marcos dictatorship and during the total war policy of the Aquino administration more than 700 and 821 victims respectively, have been made to disappear without a trace.

As we commemorate the UN-declared International Day of the Disappeared, we at DESAPARECIDOS, an organization of families of all the victims of enforced disappearances from different regimes, come together to collectively express our desire to determine the fate of our loved ones and demand for justice for the transgression done upon them. We hold the Arroyo government responsible for the continuous inexplicable cruelty of enforced disappearance.

The government of Mrs. Arroyo, with the support of the US government, has been implementing Oplan Bantay Laya that has physically eliminated dissidents and ordinary Filipinos alike through killings and enforced disappearances.  It has allowed these detestable acts to happen at an alarming rate as a systematic policy used by the state to silence dissidents and those it arbitrarily tags as "enemies of the state."

It is the government's task to protect the Filipino people, no matter what their social status or their political beliefs may be. Thus, no government could dismiss the urgency and gravity of surfacing our missing kin.

We call on the Filipino people to fight the terrorism being wrecked upon us by those who act in the name of state security.  A strong state is that which most resolutely defend the human rights of all their citizens. Human beings are never truly secure unless their rights and freedom are protected from assault.

Urgent need for Ombudsman to demonstrate efficiency in resolving cases

An Open Letter to the Deputy Ombudsman of the Philippines by the Asian Human Rights Commission
August 25, 2006

Mr. Orlando Casimiro
Deputy Ombudsman
Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices (MOLEO)
3rd Floor, Ombudsman Bldg., Agham Road, Diliman (1104)
Quezon City, PHILIPPINES
Fax: + 63 2 926 8747

Dear Mr. Casimiro,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to you having learnt of your letter to the editor published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on 22 July 2006, entitled "Baseless complaint vs. graft-buster". In the last paragraph of that letter you quote the 2005 Ombudsman's annual report in order to assert that the part of the office under your authority is "the highest performing office in terms of cases resolved". This remark seeks to give the impression that your agency is performing well.

We regret to differ. You are surely aware that the AHRC has in recent times actively and sincerely approached your office and sought intervention on a number of serious cases involving police and military personnel. We have rightly asked you to conduct thorough investigations, recommended the filing of appropriate charges in court, the imposition of sanctions and immediate action on the cases endorsed to you for review. Regrettably, the results of these requests have not been commensurate with our efforts. Allow us to remind you of some of these:

1. Your office has failed to act on the recommendation made by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR VIII) to file multiple murder and attempted murder charges against a military major, his two sergeants and a corporal involved in the killing of nine peasants in Palo, Leyte on 21 November 2005. The Commission endorsed its findings for your review in February but your office has yet to act on it. Charges cannot be filed in court as a result.

2. You also failed to act on the recommendations made by the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor to file murder and attempted murder charges against two military lieutenants and their men involved in the killing of three persons and wounding of three others in Kiblawan, Davao del Sur on 8 February 2005. The prosecutor already endorsed the findings to you on July 2005, yet you have failed to resolve the case. The military men involved have not been formally charged in court.

3. We are not aware of any response from your office to the directives of a Regional Trial Court judge on 17 May 2006 to amend the charge of murder to homicide against a military sergeant and his 31 men involved in the killings of Bacar Japalali and his wife Carmen in Tagum City during September 2004. You are aware that the case cannot proceed in court unless your office responds to the judge's directives to determine the nature of the charges against the military.

4. We are not aware of any result of your investigation into the alleged torture of Haron Abubakar Buisan, who was arrested due to mistaken identity by policemen in General Santos City on 12 December 2005. In a letter dated 10 January 2006 you assured us that there would be "an appropriate fact finding investigation" conducted by your office. But to our knowledge there has been no action against the accused police.

5. You made similar assurances concerning the case of slain activists Jose Manegdeg III of San Esteban, Ilocos Sur; Albert Terredano of Bangued, Abra; and Cathy Alcantara of Abucay, Bataan. You have been repeatedly requested to intervene into these cases, but again we are unaware of any conclusive investigation by your office. The perpetrators of these killings-- alleged to have been state personnel or persons linked to them--have not even been identified, let alone arrested and charged.

We believe that you will agree with us that any claims of efficiency and high standards of performance by any government office, in particular yours, must be reflected of how this performance contributes to upholding the public interest. Where your office is concerned, there is a special obligation to meet the interests of the victims and family members who are seeking redress for the wrongful acts of military and law-enforcement officers.

When victims are denied speedy disposition of their cases due to inaction and unnecessary delays, while in the meantime they are forced to endure constant threats and insecurity, any public office responsible for this situation is not worthy of citation as "high performing". Only when the needs and interests of these persons and the public are fully met can such praise be given.

For the time being we must withhold any such praise from your office. However, we remain hopeful that this situation may change. We look forward to your office effectively and efficiently dealing with all of the abovementioned cases, as all cases of alleged gross violations by army and police officers that come to its attention, in order to fulfill public expectations as well as those of the parties with a direct interest. We will continue to submit cases to your office and will judge your performance not by numbers in an annual report but by what clear action we can see in response to these.

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