by John Javellana

Anelfa Gimilo from the B'laan tribe. She is in search for justice for Juvy Capion who was slain on October 18, 2012 along with her two children Jordan and John by alleged members of the military. Juvy was a community leader involved in a campaign against Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) which is accused of exploiting natural resources on the ancestral lands of the B'laan people. All of them sustained multiple gunshot wounds to their heads and bodies. Jordan's skull was broken in half. Juvy was three months pregnant when she was killed. They are survived by 4-year old Vicky who survived and witnessed the massacre.

Hamog by John Javellana

MANILA, Philippines - Peter ran away at 14. He said he was beaten daily, that his father was prone to rages and that his mother did the same. The family he describes is middle class: siblings in private schools, parents operating their own businesses, himself a high school sophomore in a Christian university. Now 19, he lives by his wits, a street thief who refuses to return to the comfort of home. It is a background unlike that of the more than a dozen young boys and girls who now look to him as father, protector and hero. They are sometimes runaways, sometimes orphans, children of broken families so poor that their sons are forced to wander the streets. They are called the batang hamog, literally the children of the dew, who sleep under the dew of the open sky. Peter is their leader, chief of C5's gang of street thieves, snatching scrap metal from the beds of trucks and unattended construction sites. When Peter is in jail, the girls prostitute themselves, and the small boys run wild. What Peter says is law for the children, all of whom trust a 19-year-old boy with a police record over the parents whom they say use their children as occasional punching bags. The city of Taguig is aware of their existence. Under the law, a minor under the age of 15 is not considered a criminal. He is a child in conflict with the law, who requires rehabilitation, counseling and intervention. The law provides for the establishment of youth homes to house these minors. In the six years since the passing of the Juvenile Justice Act, Taguig has yet to begin building. Police and social workers speak of a lack of political will, and the difficulty of following a law whose promises stay on paper. For Peter, it is only what is to be expected of a government that does not care. He is a thief because he has no other choice. He will steal from the rich to give to the poor, and he will face down bullets and leap over fences for the children who call him Papa. They are the family he never had, and because they are, no law will convince him that what he does is wrong.

var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true};

The Tulfo by John Javellana

MANILA, Philippines - Ramon Tulfo is the eldest of seven Tulfo boys--all straight, he says. His father was a soldier, and so was his grandfather. He believes in guns and reincarnation and in the romance of the underdog, and that his hundred libel cases are a result of his fearless reportage. One week after he was pounded into the airport floor by former action star Raymart Santiago, the eldest of the brothers Tulfo talks about fear, faith, and why he is a samurai warrior. Video by Geloy Concepcion, Patricia Evangelista and John Javellana Score by Kevin MacLeod