Noy gets a divine message EDITORIAL 02/27/2011

Noy gets a divine message

EDITORIAL

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02/27/2011
Noynoy, in his speech marking Edsa I, again invited Filipinos to join him in his journey through the straight path, something which he has been asking for since the campaign for the presidency. Such mindless invitation makes it look like either nobody has yet taken up his challenge or he is into rambling words that do not mean anything to him.

Also he asked for unity while at the same time engaging in head bashing of former Presidents Marcos and Arroyo. The point is, why call for unity when he does not mean it?

Noynoy had stuck to the reformist image that won him the elections, that is a literal meaning of stuck. He has failed to move beyond being the candidate and step into the shoes of the president that Filipinos thought would lead them to the road to good governance and prosperity.

What he says seem to be rehashes, if not clean copies of what he delivered to convince Filipinos to vote for him during the campaign for the 2010 elections..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com1.html

Enough already FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 02/27/2011

Enough already

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

02/27/2011
Quite frankly, after 25 years, the issue of the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos should be put to rest.

His family wants him buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, and really, there is no reason not to have his remains — which are frozen, kept for years in a refrigerated crypt — buried in Libingan.

It is not as if the Libingan ng mga Bayani is reserved for the Yelllows and their allies who have died, or that those buried there are cleaner than clean.

So why are the Marcoses denied their desire to have Marcos buried in that particular cemetery?

The whole issue of denying the Marcos burial at the Libingan — was due to the fact that, by the time Marcos died, it was Cory Aquino in power and position, and it is common knowledge she, her family and the Marcoses were bitter enemies. Cory was so vindictive in denying Marcos that burial site that she actually ordered state honors and a state funeral for a military dog that had died..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com2.html

Abused Afghan women fear for future of shelters FEATURE 02/27/2011

Abused Afghan women fear for future of shelters

FEATURE

02/27/2011
KABUL — At a secret women’s shelter in Kabul, a mother with sad brown eyes who fled with five children all born after relatives raped her explains her fears over Afghan government plans to take over the refuges.

The 28-year-old left her home in Laghman province, east Afghanistan, three months ago and now lives at the shelter, which keeps its windows whitewashed and curtains drawn so neighbors do not guess what it is.

“My husband wasn’t a good person and all the time he was out and we didn’t have any food. When I told my husband’s father and his brother to bring food, they abused me,” she told AFP while breastfeeding her youngest, aged six weeks.

She plucked up the courage to flee her home but now her father-in-law has followed her to Kabul to try and force her to come back, she says..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com3.html

Customs payola reaches Malacañang BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 02/27/2011

Customs payola reaches Malacañang

BLURBAL THRUSTS

Louie Logarta

02/27/2011
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima really needn’t look too far to find the heads that will be made to roll in connection with the prevalence of Filipino drug mules (or couriers) using the Ninoy Aquino international Airport (NAIA) as their jump-off point for various overseas destinations.

Literally, they can be found in the back yard. In the Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Customs and PNP Aviation Security Group units operating in the NAIA.

In a press briefing, De Lima said there are over 70 Filipinos now languishing in death row in China for drug offenses, the bulk of whom were convicted sometime in 2008 and 2009, before the entry of the Aquino administration. “Bakit hindi sila na-detect papalabas sa NAIA? Pwedeng backdoor. Maaring ipinalusot. Vulnerable to corruption kasi ang mga tao.”

She disclosed that she had been specifically tasked by President Aquino to find out once and for all if these mules had managed to smuggle illegal drugs out of the country as a result of inferior technology or connivance of corrupt airport personnel. Or both..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com4.html

Clueless diplomacy TABLETS OF STONE Larry Faraon, OP 02/27/2011

Clueless diplomacy

TABLETS OF STONE

Larry Faraon, OP

02/27/2011
\"I am sorry” has been a pejorative phrase in Philippine politics since Mrs. Arroyo debased the most powerful emotional sentiment of a person next to “I love you.” It would seem therefore prudent to avoid such phrase especially in the mending or healing of wounded relationships with Taiwan. Ever since the One-China Policy, the country has been on a tightrope mode of existence vis-à-vis the two Sino-neighbors.

The latest row with the Taiwanese government which has turned more sour because of miscalculated diplomatic skirmishes from both sides is totally unnecessary though. The conflict between PRoC and RoC has always been kept low by both themselves since such political warps between them would prove detrimental to their respective pursuit for economic progress. The Chinese, especially the business kind, are wary about politics — as they quip here in Binondo, malas sa negosyo!.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com5.html

Brain drain VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 02/27/2011

Brain drain

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

02/27/2011
Finding: “Filipino science and technology workers leaving the country to work abroad jumping by 148 percent”. Perception: “Grim scenario.” Identification: “Nurses and midwives, Engineers, Doctors, Dentists, Veterinarians and pharmacists.” Lamentation: “It is a sad fact that we are losing them. We hope that we can find ways to make more of them stay in the country and use their talents here.”

Thus goes the report of a much circulated national broadsheet according to a pronouncement from the Department of Science and Education. The “Brain Drain” started in 1998. While the said Department did not say that the sad phenomenon is ongoing up to this day, it would be nevertheless contrary to plain reality to say that it has stopped. The fact is that to date, there seems to be no foreign developed and developing country without the presence of OFWs. This is a standing fact that would be foolish if not downright irrational to deny..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com6.html

Exhausted rescuers feel quake’s emotional toll focus 02/27/2011

Exhausted rescuers feel quake’s emotional toll

focus

02/27/2011
CHRISTCHURCH — Devastated rescue workers had to be dragged away from the wreckage of Christchurch’s CTV building, unable to stop thinking of the entombed earthquake victims they were leaving behind.

“It’s not a matter of just walking away from a worksite, they were touching bodies,” said police commander Dave Cliff, describing how searchers refused to leave the fire-scarred site on Wednesday night, 24 hours after the tremor.

“This is deeply emotional for those people working on this. They do it because they have an absolute desire to help people, to find people to rescue.”

About 700 rescue workers are now sifting steel and concrete wreckage in central Christchurch, New Zealand’s second-biggest city, which was hammered Tuesday by the vicious 6.3-magnitude earthquake..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110227com7.html

Aquino takes swipe anew at Marcos over Edsa plaints By Aytch S. de la Cruz 02/27/2011

CLAIMS RP WON’T FOLLOW SINGAPORE BUT BECOME ANOTHER LIBYA

Aquino takes swipe anew at Marcos over Edsa plaints

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 02/27/2011

President Aquino stayed the course of delving into the sins of the past a day after the Edsa I celebrations criticizing those raising the unfulfilled promises of the People Power revolt comparing the probable descent of the nation into a turmoil similar to what is happening in Libya had uprising in 1986 did not happen.

In a speech during the conferment of awards to key personalities in the Edsa I revolt, Aquino again made use of the Marcos regime in extolling the supposed gains after the Edsa revolt.

He referred to Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s assertion that the Philippines could have followed the footsteps of Singapore had it not been for the Edsa I revolt.

Aquino said in his speech that it had recently become fashionable to point out the unfulfilled promises of Edsa with some daring to say that “maybe a one-man rule was not such a bad idea, never mind the oppression and the lack of liberties.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110227hed1.html

Noynoy plays hardball with Taiwan over row By Aytch S. de la Cruz 02/27/2011

Noynoy plays hardball with Taiwan over row

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 02/27/2011
President Aquino wants to tough it out with Taiwan over the conflict on the repatriation of Taiwan residents accused of fraud to China, saying that alternative countries for employment will be offered to those to be displaced by Taiwan’s freezing of the hiring of Filipinos over the refusal of the Aquino administration to apologize over the deportation issue.

Malacañang said yesterday an instruction was formally given to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to search for alternative employment destinations for Filipinos who would have to bear Taiwan’s brunt over the deportation row.

This developed as Taiwanese legislators have sought an “indefinite” freeze on the hiring of Filipino workers as a result of Manila’s “unfriendly” attitude towards Taipei.

Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte said on radio that following Aquino’s recent statement, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) is now working to find additional employment opportunities forFilipinos abroad other than Taiwan..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110227hed2.html

98 Pinoys arrive from Libya; DFA execs in Tunisia for repatriated OFWs 02/27/2011

98 Pinoys arrive from Libya; DFA execs in Tunisia for repatriated OFWs

02/27/2011
Close to 100 Libya-based repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) landed in Manila in batches yesterday as the government stepped up efforts to bring thousands more home.

According to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, the 98 OFWs arrived from France where they were evacuated by their local recruitment agencies and their employer, Vinci Grand Projects.

The government estimates that 26,000 Filipinos were working in the oil-rich North African country before the uprising against Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi broke out, part of a vast number of mostly lower-paid migrant workers in the country from across Asia and Africa.

Their jobs ranged from domestic helpers to engineers and white-collar workers..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110227hed3.html

Senate eyes clipping powers of Ombudsman By Angie M. Rosales 02/27/2011

Senate eyes clipping powers of Ombudsman

By Angie M. Rosales 02/27/2011
The Senate plans to go directly to the root of the problem in the anomalous plea bargain deal retired military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia had obtained to free him from a plunder case by clipping the prosecutorial powers of the Ombudsman.

Sen. Franklin Drilon initiated the move even as he also called for a review of the laws providing for plea bargaining on cases involving plunder and other high crimes.

“We must have a law which should regulate plea bargaining,” he told the Senate blue ribbon committee before its proceedings last Friday was put in suspension by panel chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III.

In recommending at least three legislative measures for the committee’s consideration in its panel report on the proceedings, Drilon called for a review for possible amendment of the law that created the Office of the Ombudsman..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110227hed5.html

23 priority bills up for Ledac meeting, says Malacañang 02/27/2011

23 priority bills up for Ledac meeting, says Malacañang

02/27/2011
Everything is all set for the first Executive Legislative Development Advisory Council (Ledac) to be led by President Aquino tomorrow, with a total of 23 priority bills slated to be discussed, Malacañang yesterday said.

Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte told the state-run radio dzRB that the meeting is scheduled to finally start at 10 a.m.

She said Malacañang is ready to present 23 legislative measures but she was not able to give substantial details regarding the matter.

“From what I understand, 23 priority bills made it to the list. So we are just essentially waiting for the meeting to happen this Monday (today) and, of course, we’ll be on hand to give you more information once the meeting is already under way,” Valte only said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110227hed6.html

AFP suspends offensive operation vs NPA rebels By Mario J. Mallari 02/27/2011

AFP suspends offensive operation vs NPA rebels

By Mario J. Mallari 02/27/2011
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday declared the week-long suspension of offensive military operations (Somo) with the communist New People’s Army (NPA) as a success with only minimal violations committed by the threat group during the period.

The Somo, which started Feb. 15 in time for the resumption of the formal peace negotiations between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in Oslo, Norway, lapsed midnight Monday.

“By large, it has been successful. There may have been some violations reported but apparently these appear to be minimal,” AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. said during a press briefing.

Mabanta said that the military is not privy to what transpired during the week-long talks in Oslo..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110227nat2.html

Albay bags 2011 Palarong Bikol championship 02/27/2011

Albay bags 2011 Palarong Bikol championship

02/27/2011
Guinobatan, Albay — This province bagged this year’s championship in the recently concluded Palarong Bikol here. It bested 13 other regional sports delegations and snatched the top honors from reigning champion Camarines Norte. It was Albay’s best performance ever in 26 years in the regional sports festival.
Albay amassed 140 gold medals, 88 silvers and 68 bronzes for total haul of 296 medals, posting a record of 489.1 points, 54.5 points over dislodged 2010 champ Camarines Norte, which got only 434.5 points and finished as 1st runner up.

Camarines Sur trailed Camarines Norte with 432.5 points, followed by Legazpi City and Naga City to complete the top five placers in the regional games that ended February 18 at Albay Sports Complex here.
“It took so long in coming - 26 years - before Albay again captured the top spot of Bicol sports. Despite 24 days of continuous heavy rainfall right before the Bicol Palaro and the challenge of playing host, it is quite a feat,” a proud Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said in a statement..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110227nat5.html

Do-nothing government EDITORIAL 02/26/2011

Do-nothing government

EDITORIAL

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02/26/2011
Libya was in political turmoil two weeks ago and the world knew it as the violence was reported all over the globe. Yet Noynoy Aquino and his government, despite the knowledge that there are Filipino workers who could very well be caught in the crossfire, insisted on doing nothing, even announcing that there would be no mass evacuation; only voluntary repatriation for those who want to return home.

But even in that, there apparently was not even any Filipino official who was organizing the voluntary repatriation business.

What is usual with so many of our envoys, whenever a catastrophe occurs, is to quickly state — an hour or so after the catastrophe occurs, that the Filipinos in that area are all safe, and no one has been injured.

This happened again shortly after the news of the devastating New Zealand quake was out. Yet there were our envoys, claiming that no Filipino had been reported injured. Now we find out that over a dozen Filipinos — maybe more, have been trapped in a collapsed building, with other Filipinos probably dead..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110226com1.html

Not a healing president FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 02/26/2011

Not a healing president

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

02/26/2011
He says one thing, but does the opposite.

Yesterday, at the 25th anniversary of the Edsa Revolt rites, Noynoy vowed to unite the nation, yet he harked back to the Marcos past and the Arroyo regime. How then can he even make that vow to unite the Filipinos under his stewardship, when he is much too divisive?

The problem with Noynoy and his Yellows, who were his mother’s Yellows too, is that they believe they have a lock and the copyright on Edsa, which is the reason Noynoy can’t ever be the president of the Filipinos, as he insists on being the president of the Yellows.

To this day, he still wears that yellow ribbon pinned on his Barong Tagalog, which was what he had worn all througout his presidential campaign.

Even his election to the presidency was propagandized as an Edsa r evolt, in a different form. But good grief, what was Edsa 1986 all about, if not getting rid of the 13-year dictatorship and ushering freedom and democracy..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110226com3.html

Edsa at 25: Aquino Is Wasting Legacy of People Power, Say Farmers

Edsa at 25: Aquino Is Wasting Legacy of People Power, Say Farmers

For Filipino farmers, filling a stage with actors and performers is hardly the best way to commemorate the culmination of more than a decade’s fight against the Marcos dictatorship. “It would have been better if President Aquino does something worthy of EDSA 1 such as announce the surrender of the Cojuangco family’s unjust claim on Hacienda Luisita,” Willy Marbella of KMP said.
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com
 
MANILA — Wasting the legacy of the 1986 Edsa People Power uprising.

This was how Hacienda Luisita farmworkers and the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) described the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the popular revolt that ousted the Marcos dictatorship and installed Aquino’s mother, Corazon C. Aquino, to the presidency.

“The Aquino administration is in the thick of preparations for the February 25 anniversary of Edsa People Power. It even had tarpaulin banners and high-rise billboards put up all over the metropolis praising President Aquino’s mother and calling her an icon of democracy. For us farmers, it is very hard to accept how the incumbent government is packaging what happened 25 years ago because for us, the legacy of the uprising has been wasted,” said KMP deputy secretary-general for internal affairs Willy Marbella.

In a protest action in front the Supreme Court on February 22, Luisita farmworkers denounced the upcoming government-led Edsa celebration as a farce and sorry tribute to the essence of the People Power uprising. (Photo by Ina Alleco R. Silverio / bulatlat.com)

Marbella said that for KMP, the assertion that democracy and genuine freedom were achieved after Edsa 1 was a based on an illusion.

“Farmers believed the late president Cory Aquino’s promises that she would implement what the dictatorship did not – genuine land reform – but this did not happen. The Cory administration refused to put Hacienda Luisita under agrarian reform after the ratification of the 1987 Constitution. She instead pushed for the passage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of 1998 with the help of the landlord-dominated congress and saved HLI for the Cojuangco family,” he said..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/02/23/edsa-at-25-aquino-is-wasting-legacy-of-people-power-say-farmers/

Reds, Manila End Oslo Talks with ‘Guarded Optimism and Hope’

Reds, Manila End Oslo Talks with ‘Guarded Optimism and Hope’

By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA
Bulatlat.com
OSLO, Norway — The Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) ended their first formal peace talks in six years with “guarded optimism and hope,” concluding today, February 22, six hard days of bargaining in this Norwegian capital.

Postponing their scheduled closing ceremony at least three times, both panels appeared to have struggled to agree on several ticklish issues, until finally emerging from their talks at around eight in the evening Oslo time.

Relief showed on the faces of GPH panel chair Alexander Padilla and his NDFP counterpart Luis Jalandoni as they read their respective closing statements and later good-naturedly answered questions fielded by members of the Philippine and international media who have been waiting for more than five days for news from the negotiations.

Both panels, as well as the Royal Norwegian Government, the third-party facilitator of the talks, announced the reconvening of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC), and the reactivation of the reciprocal working committees (RCWs) on socio-economic reforms and the formation of working groups for political and constitutional reforms, which will be next in the agenda of the discussion after this the present round of talks on socio-economic reforms.

GPH panel chairmain Alexander Padilla, Royal Norwegian Government chief facilitator Ambassador Tore Lundh, and NDFP panel chair Luis Jalandoni in today’s closing ceremonies in Oslo. (Photo by Raymund B. Vilanueva / bulatlat.com)

The JMC was formed in 2004 to monitor the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). For almost seven years, the GPH, then known as Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), refused to convene the JMC..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/02/22/reds-manila-end-oslo-talks-with-%E2%80%98guarded-optimism-and-hope%E2%80%99/

Dole Philippines Workers in Tough Fight as US Company Uses Military Force Vs Union

 Dole Philippines Workers in Tough Fight as US Company Uses Military Force Vs Union

Today, Feb. 22, the workers at the largest plantation and cannery in the Philippines will hold a union election. The incumbent KMU-affiliated union, Amado-Kadena, is fighting to retain its dominance even as Dole Philippines uses a pro-management faction of the union against it while the US company, its allies and the military vilify and harass the union’s members and officers.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – “You have to suffer the consequences.”

Kevin Davis, at the time the boss in Dole Philippines (Dolefil), the largest integrated plantation and cannery in the Philippines, told Jose Teruel this in 2006 after the workers’ union Teruel headed successfully asserted its desire to affiliate with NAFLU, a labor federation of the progressive Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).

Davis made the threat following Dolefil management’s campaign to undermine the union’s choice of leaders as well as the labor federation it wanted to ally itself with, often using methods that were borrowed from the military.

The list of these “consequences” being suffered by the union, Amado Kadena-NAFLU-KMU (Asosasyon sa mga Mamumuo sa Dolefil Alang sa Kalingkawasan ug Demokrasya sa Nasud, or Association of Dolefil Workers for Freedom and Democracy ), and its leaders has grown longer as thousands of the multinational company’s workers embark yet again on another election, scheduled for today, February 22, in General Santos City,  to choose their union leaders.

Efforts by the Dolefil management to defeat Amado-Kadena are focused on two fronts: its support for a faction of the union called LEAD-PH and a parallel campaign to vilify Amado-Kadena as a communist group and to harass its officials and members..... MORE

Click here to read more stories on Dole Philippines and its union-busting activities

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/02/22/dole-philippines-workers-in-tough-fight-as-us-company-uses-military-force-vs-union/

OFWs Who Lived For Years Under a Bridge in Jeddah Return Home with Harrowing Tales of Neglect

OFWs Who Lived For Years Under a Bridge in Jeddah Return Home with Harrowing Tales of Neglect

“When we were still (in Saudi) the government did not help us. Now that we are home, they still could not extend any assistance to us.” – Lubaira Guiandal, 43, one of the OFWs who lived under the Khandara Bridge while awaiting repatriation.

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Outside Migrante International’s office in Cubao, Quezon City, 11 overseas Filipino workers were sharing their recent experiences to the group and to some church workers when, all of a sudden, one of them stood up and banged the table thrice, emphatically saying, “Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.”

The man was Arnulfo Manongdo, 42, a recently repatriated OFW who lived under the Khandara Bridge in Jeddah for six months. He was reenacting what Vice Consul Lorenzo Rhys Jungco did and said when they approached him and the Philippine consulate in Jeddah for assistance on their request for immediate repatriation.

Manongdo left to work as a maintenance crew for the Kimpahad Medical City on March 20, 2006. His principal agency, a  manpower services based in Saudi Arabia called Al-Safari, gave him the salary stipulated in the contract — 1,800 riyals — for the first three months. On the fourth month onward, however, Al-Safari refused to give them their salary unless they surrendered their iqama (residency permit).

Arnulfo Manongdo (left) served as leader to the OFWs who lived under the Khandara Bridge for years while awaiting for repatriation. (Photo by Janess Ann J. Ellao / bulatlat.com)

He chose not surrender his iqama, while his co-workers who submitted theirs received a salary of only 450 riyals and a food allowance amounting to 200 riyals. Without a single riyal to survive, he worked on a part-time basis for other companies. But Manongdo eventually escaped from Al-Safari sometime in November 2006 after seeing that it would not change its policies regarding the workers’ salaries.

Manongdo managed to find different jobs, from being a cargo carrier to a restaurant crew. He could not, however, find a regular job. “We were paid for a month, then fired the next month,” he said, “I could hardly send money to my family.”.... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/02/20/ofws-who-lived-for-years-under-a-bridge-in-jeddah-return-home-with-harrowing-tales-of-neglect/