The fight vs. human trafficking continues!

For tonight, we bring you a very special show on Straight from the Sky as we have with us that great Filipino musical icon, Mr. Gilopez Kabayao and his wife Corazon on the piano together with their children Farida and Sicilinne. When I was a young boy, Gilopez Kabayao was already a music icon, one of the first Filipinos to ever play at the prestigious Carnegie Hall. He was one of the first recipients of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Awards and a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee. I can proudly say that Gilopez Kabayao is the greatest Filipino violinist that ever lived!

 Because he has come to Cebu ever so often to hold his concerts, I don’t know how many times I have met Mr. Kabayao. But there was one unforgettable occasion when he played my favorite violin piece, Massenet by Thais, that haunting, enchanting violin piece that I shared with my uncle and mother. This was during the funeral rites of my mentor and friend, the late Sir Max Soliven at the Camp Aguinaldo Chapel in 2006. He played that piece so flawlessly; after he was done I approached him and congratulated him. He then proceeded to tell me that he often read my columns; after all, the Solivens were a close family friend, especially his sister Punay K. Fernandez.

 A few weeks ago, Gilopez Kabayao came to Cebu to launch his book entitled “Artist for the Filipino People: Gilopez Kabayao” at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel, where in the afternoon, he gave a free matinee concert at the Ballroom for 500 poor children from the various schools and orphanages in Cebu. In the evening, he gave a free concert before the formal launching of his book. As Ms. Lianne Sala was coordinating these events, I asked her if Mr. Kabayao would like to be the guest on our TV show and he agreed. So we taped this show at the Grand Ballroom of the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel.

 So it is with great honor and pleasure to have Mr. Gilopez Kabayao and wife Corazon to be with us on this show and talk about his life and times especially those times when he was praised by the great American newspapers, the New York Times and New York Herald Tribune about his musical prowess. What I cannot understand is why hasn’t the Philippine Government recognized Gilopez Kabayao as a National Artist? Anyway, towards the end of our interview, Gilopez and family gives us a few violin pieces worth remembering by. So watch him on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm tonight.

* * *

 We’ve written numerous articles about the problems that we are facing about human trafficking, which for many years were never even considered as a form of human slavery. But now that Cable Network News (CNN) has adopted human trafficking and slavery as its primary advocacy, it is only now that people are beginning to realize that we must rid our country with this scourge. I read last Friday a piece from the inside pages of The FREEMAN that CNN was in town to do some documentaries on how we are fighting human trafficking and I’m glad that they have come here so we can show to the world that at least here in Cebu, we are not behind anymore in our effort to combat this international scourge called human trafficking.

 Last Friday, Gov. Gwen F. Garcia called a meeting for the Regional Task Force on Anti-Trafficking (RTFAT), which now includes stakeholders from the private sector, notably the Hotel, Resorts, Restaurants Association of Cebu (HRRAC) led by Mr. Hans Hauri, shipping operators, bus and mini bus operators and the Mactan Airline Operators Council (MAOC). All these officers vowed to support this very noble drive, more so that it affects the lives of Filipino women, who are the principal victims of this scourge.

 You may want to ask, why is human trafficking lumped together with slavery? Well, first of all, nations all over the world consider slavery illegal. Looking at the history of the US Civil war, which killed 5 million Americans because of the question of slavery, indeed no nation would allow slaves to be legalized. But the evil that allowed slavery to exist in the past is a wily character for it has change the face of slavery.

 When persons are taken against their will or by force and are not to contact the outside world or even home because they have been “sold” as a prostitute in a sex den… this is the new kind of slavery that we are facing. Modern day slaves exist because of corruption. Clear examples are the brothels outside the University of San Carlos (USC) main building. These brothels could never exist unless it is given “protection” by the police.

 A young girl may start working with an innocent “karaoke” bar, but who knows where she’d eventually end up? Human trafficking exist because of our poverty and too many people exploit the poor. Corrupt politicians exploit them for their political gains, while corrupt bureaucrats allow brothels to exist. Thanks to the efforts of the Regional Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking, we are now making it difficult for this scourge to continue.

* * *

Email: [email protected]