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Beatrix R., Philippines: "I think that a truly humane society should give convicts who have more than 5 years of time to do, or men who have been convicted for sexual aggression, the option of voluntary death, or suicide. These men may realize that as scums and dregs, they are just a burden for their societies, so opting out may be a viable alternative for them. As we have recently discussed in our feminist Sunday circle, a kind of self-service guillotine could be installed at penal institutions."

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Philippines

South Luzon / The Region

Southern Luzon, commonly called Bicol, and made up of the provinces of Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, and Sorsogon, is a difficult tourist destination. The region has a number of attractions primarily for moun-taineers but it certainly lacks infrastructure. Bicol as region probably has the lousiest roads in all the Philippines. Even the main traffic artery which connects the whole peninsula to Manila is merely a narrow two-lane road. Often large sections are under repair and then traffic is diverted to dirt lanes. However, these lanes are not much worse than the ordinary road. Because of the many potholes, the trip is uncomfortable even in the most comfortable of buses - no com-parison to bus travel on the excellent roads in Northwest Luzon and even Mindanao. But the roads are not the only problem in the region. Two other problems that should be considered by those who plan to go there are weather and insurgency.

Bicol is a land of rain and typhoons. Particularly the typhoons are a handicap for the development of tourist infrastructure and infrastructure in general. Among the typhoons which hit the region in recent years, the most devastating was Sisang November 26, 1987. It caused great additional hardship in the already poor region. Typhoon Sisang killed more than 650 people in Bicol, mostly in the coastal town of Sorsogon. Some 500,000 people were rendered homeless, and some 95% of the coconut and banana planta-tions were wasted. Sisang also destroyed a large number of resorts along Bicol's Pacific coast. As gathered from the owners of many resorts particularly in Albay province, a large number will not be rebuilt. Anyway, the beaches of Bicol have not enjoyed much preference among foreign tourists as most of them have a dark gray volcanic sand.

Even when there is no major weather dis-turbance, Bicol tends to have a lot of rain because not only the typhoons but also the tropical depressions normally have their origin East of Samar and Bicol; therefore these two areas are always hit first by bad weather. And the bad weather not only spoils the days at the beach, it can also cause problems when trying to return to the capital. Though PAL and Aerolift have regular flights to Legazpi, Naga and Daet, they may not always be a much more comfortable alternative to the bumpy roads because of turbulence.

For those, of course, who take pleasure in seeing nature go wild Bicol is the best place to marvel at the powers of wind and rain. And occasionally Bicol even presents the spectacle not only of raining cats and dogs but also ashes and rocks. In addition it is a land of volcanos, with several still active. However, even as volcanos sound more dangerous than typhoons their eruptions have had less devastating effects in recent years. Although the Mayon Volcano near Legazpi City erupted September 1984, it only ejected light muddy particles which put a wide area surrounding the volcano under a gray veil. Except for that economically, people were not hurt.

The biggest recorded eruption of the Mayon Volcano was February 1, 1814 which killed thousands of people and buried the town of Daraga and the Cagsawa church except for the tower.

Other volcanos of the region include Mount Isarog near Naga City, Mount Iriga near Iriga City, and Mount Bulusan near Sor-sogon. As is the case with the Mayon Vol-cano, the immediate surroundings of a vol-cano are often declared National Parks.

Besides its destructive potential, Mayon Volcano has its good and beautiful sides to it. Actually, Mayon Volcano is considered one of the most beautiful of its kind as it is shaped as an almost perfect cone, just as Mount Fuji in Japan. For its beauty, the Mayon Volcano is a major attraction for mountaineers. As the volcano is well ex-plored and as guides are readily available, Mayon Volcano is one of the safer destina-tions, a neophyte climber may choose in the Philippines. Even as further eruptions are ex-pected, they do not have to be feared by the climber as a volcanological institute located there would give early enough warning of any dangerous activity of the volcano.

That it attracts tourists who spend money is one good side of the Mayon Volcano. Another is the fertile ground it provides to surrounding areas. Around the volcano, a lot of rice is grown. Otherwise, the main crops of the region are coconuts (because of their resistance to typhoons but that didn't work out with Sisang), bananas, and abaca from which hemp is produced which is woven into rope, hats, baskets, and mats.

In Spanish times, there used to be gold mining in Camarines Norte, especially near the towns of Paracale and Mambulao, but today, gold mining there is no longer of major importance. It still has beautiful beaches at Bagabas, Lanot and San Jose. There are two waterfalls - Kanapap and Itol - west of Daet.

Bicol, by the way, was easily occupied by the Spanish from 1570 on, and for some time later, Bicolanos were exempt from paying tribute for immediately acknowledging Spanish sovereignty.

On the contrary, the current Philippine state does not enjoy this acknowledgment by all Bicolanos. After a lot of recruiting, propaganda and grass root organizing, the area has become known since the change in The Country 's administration in 1986 for its numerous NPA operations. In Bicol, a lot of daring ambushes were undertaken by the NPA which often cost the lives of a larger number of government troopers than am-bushes in other parts of The Country . An ambush which attracted nationwide attention hap-pened February 27, 1988, when a military group was waylaid at Guinobatan in Albay province and 12 soldiers including the son of a prominent colonel were killed. This par-ticular ambush caused a furor because it was attended by foreign journalists and even filmed by a TV crew which allegedly paid some 40,000 pesos for this privilege. The ambush therefore was tagged Ambush-for-a-Fee.

Spectacular NPA operations in the Bicol region also included the cutting of traffic links between central and South Luzon in 1987.

These economic sabotage acts started September 7, 1987 when two concrete bridges in Sipocot and San Fernando towns in the province of Camarines Sur were dynamited. Two days later, another bridge near Guinobatan in Albay province was blown up. And September 20, 1987, some 500 NPA rebels hijacked a Manila bound train just before the town of Del Gallego in Albay province, rode the train to the town and there attacked the police and constabulary detachments, killing 17 and wounding 7 government troopers. Next, they blew up the Quilbay railway bridge to also cut North-South rail traffic.

The NPA claims to rule in many rural areas of Bicol. It also boasts of having implemented its own land reform in many municipalities where either lands owned by landlords have been confiscated outright and given to farmer's cooperatives, or where landlords are forced to hand over a big share of the agricultural produce on their lands to farm worker's organizations.

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