ATENEO CENTER FOR ASIAN STUDIES

The coastal areas generally have a greater diversity of ecosystems associated with a complex array of natural resources that provide both economic good and services. Due to the population dynamic and global market pressures with large and multifarious human activities, the coastal resources and ecosystems have been treatened in an alarming rate. The deterioration of mangrove forests and their ecosystem are currently one of the most important and urgent environmental issues in coastal areas of Southeast Asia including the Philippines. Human settlement, expansion of agricultural or salt-making pans, development of coastal industries, and more recently, expansion of coastal aquaculture, have caused the damage of mangrove forests. The high rates of mangrove loss in the region over the last three decades have coincided with the shrimp farming development of the 1980s. To minimize and compromise the conflicts associated with coastal aquaculture development and its implication on mangrove disappearances, as well as to find out the most suitable and sustainable model for the harmonized integration, a form of mangrove-fishpond integration, was introduced. The Aquaculture Department, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (AQD-SEAFDEC), the Philippines has implemented Mangrove Friendly Aquaculture Program (Aquasilviculture) at Ibajay, Aklan. However, how friendly they are? This study observes the current condition and sustainability of Mangrove Friendly Aquaculture Program at Ibajay, Aklan and other sites in the Philippines from the white paper and fieldwork view points. To sustain the program for the long range periods, community participation is highly required, however, their economic expectations and benefits should be taken into consideration. Various best practises concerning stakeholder involvement, tangible and intangible benefits, property rights and sustainable management in regard with coastal resources governance are also discussed for comparative perspectives and insights.

Human trafficking or trafficking in persons is a modern and new type of global slavery since it deprives people of human rights and freedom. The Philippines among other countries in Southeast Asia region is the source, transit and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked internally and internationally for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. The Philippines enacted a special legislation on anti human trafficking, namely the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 or the Republic Act No. 9208. Yet, there is always a gap between the law in book and the law in action. Hence, the question is whether RA No.9208 is adequate to bring more traffickers to the court of justice and provide legal protection for trafficking victims.

Dr. Rina Shahriyani Shahrullah is from Indonesia and finished her Bachelor of Laws in 1992 from Faculty of Law, Universitas Hasanuddin, Makassar, Indonesia. She completed her Masters in Comparative Law in 1997 at the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, Australia. Her comparative law study dealt with the legal system of Australia and Indonesia. Her comparative legal seminars and essays focused on the aspects of commercial laws under the Civil Law, Common Law and Islamic Law. From 2000 – 2004, she conducted a research on international commercial arbitration at the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, Australia. In 2005, she was awarded a Ph.D of Law from the University of Queensland, Australia.

To what extent can international norms be reconciled with apparently contradictory religious norms? In this presentation, I explore the limits of norm adaptation in constructivist international relations theory by examining the contentious issues of population growth and reproductive health in the Philippines. International norms, especially the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, promote population management and reproductive health (which are themselves terms with controversial definitions) in the Philippines. Yet these norms frequently clash with the teachings of the politically influential Roman Catholic Church and its allies, which fear that such norms will pave the way for coercive population policies, the demeaning of human life and a culture that tolerates abortion. I will cover some major themes that have emerged in the course of my field research in the Philippines, which involved interviews with some 40 decision-makers in the Church, the government and international and domestic civil society groups. I describe major themes in the debate over family planning and population in the Philippines and discuss how actors on both sides of the controversy attempt to repudiate or modify each other's norms, and why such attempts have largely failed on both sides. By taking apart the dynamics of this norm contest, we can gain a clearer understanding of when attempts to reconcile conflicting norms work and when they fail.

Dr. Wayne Patterson, specialist on Korean History, is a professor in St. Norbert College (De Pere, Wisconsin). Among his numerous publications is The Koreans in Hawaii: A pictorial History, 1903-2003 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2003), written with Roberta W.S. Chang. His talk should be of particular interest to Filipinos as it provides an insight into the relationship between Korean and Japanese immigrants in Hawaii immediately preceding the arrival of Filipinos sugar planters in the 1920’s.