Ernest Guevarra

Occupation: Doctor
Reebok HR Award: 2003
Birthplace: Manila, Philippines
Birthdate: November 5, 1977

Ernest Ryan Guevarra was born and raised in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. He has promoted human rights, peace and social development since he was a teenager. Today he is a doctor and human rights activist.

When he was 18 years old, Ernest spent a month in a remote village in the Philippines. There, he witnessed the suffering that comes from extreme poverty, political conflict and the lack of adequate healthcare. That experience had a powerful effect on the choices he would make to fight for the human rights of the disadvantaged.

As a student at the University of the Philippines, Ernest played an important role in organizing other students to raise awareness on health-related human rights issues. He co-founded Medical Students for Social Responsibility and in 1999, became a student representative with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. In 2000, Ernest was one of a group of medical students who organized a conference in Sarajevo on the medical problems of refugees, landmine victims and the rights of children in conflict zones.

After graduating, Ernest first worked as a volunteer doctor in a clinic for victims of human rights abuses. He then took part in a dangerous fact-finding mission to an area in the Philippines where there had been a number of kidnappings. The Philippine military had rounded up hundreds of Muslims, claiming they had ties to the terrorist organization, al-Qaida. It was alleged that these detainees were being tortured and forced to admit they were terrorists. When Ernest and the others reached the jail, an armed guard put an M-16 rifle to Ernest's head and jailed him along with the detainees. Ernest continued to examine the detainees and demanded that they receive proper medical treatment. When Ernest was released and he and his colleagues returned to safety, they issued a report that resulted in a congressional investigation into the torture and illegal detention of the suspects.

Despite that life-threatening experience, Ernest decided to stay in Mindanao to serve the hundreds of thousands of displaced people in dire need of medical services. In 2003 the Philippine military launched an attack against a fringe rebel group, forcing thousands of villagers to flee the region. Ernest remained to provide the only emergency medical care. Today, Ernest is working in Northern Uganda with the International Rescue Committee, where there has been a long humanitarian emergency due to 19 years of conflict.

Adapted from the website, Forefront: A Global Network of Human Rights Defenders (http://www.forefrontleaders.org/partners/asia/ernest-guevarra/)

Books

1. Harry Potter books — 'I just recently got introduced to the books and once I started I couldn't stop. I think each one of us can identify with Harry Potter at one point in our lives when we feel we do not fit in or that there are so many struggles that we face but eventually, with friends whom we trust and who trust us as well, we are able to overcome any challenge.'

2. Dekada '70 by Lualhati Bautista — 'I read this book when I was in high school which described through the story of a family the social realities during the dark decade of the 70s in the history of the Philippines and how ordinary men and women struggled to be free from oppression and dictatorial rule.'

3. The Velveteen Rabbit — 'All of us go through life finding ourselves and wanting to be 'real'. This book tells us how simple this is.'           

Songs

1. Beautiful Day by U2 — 'Gives us reasons why each day is special and that there is so much to live for.'

2. Walang Hanggang Paalam (Never Ending Goodbye) by Joey Ayala — 'This is my favorite Filipino song that talks about a couples' love for each other in the context of their own personal struggles toward social justice.'               

Musicians

1. U2 — 'The band just proves to get better and better with their songs and their activism.'

2. Joey Ayala — 'For me, he is the foremost Filipino musician who has utilized traditional Filipino instruments for his music and talking about contemporary Filipino socio-political and environmental realities and issues in his lyrics.'

3. The unheard of, not known, ordinary folks who make music every day of their lives through the instruments available to them—whistling, snapping, stomping, clapping, laughing—the music of life!'

Question: If you were to create a 'toolbox' of things you need to create positive change, what would go in your toolbox?

Ernest's Answer: I would put songs, music and dance in my toolbox.  In every place, and every culture that I have been blessed to experience, songs, music and dance have always been an integral part of any social movement that has taken place and any change that has arisen from it.

   
On December 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Created with input from many nations, this document still presents a vision of a world in which the rights of all human beings are honored.  It has become the foundation for advocates of human rights around the world. 
The human rights work Ernest Guevarra has done for HEALTH relates most to Article 25 of the UDHR:

------------------------------------------------------

ARTICLE 25 (1): Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Learn more about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Phillipines

Note: Unless otherwise indicated, all facts and figures are taken from the CIA World Factbook.

POPULATION:
89,468,677 (July 2006 est.)
Growth Rate: 1.8%

LITERACY RATES: (15 and over)
TOTAL: 92.6%
MALE: 92.5%
FEMALE: 92.7% (2002)

INFANT MORTALITY:
TOTAL: 22.81 deaths/1,000 live births
MALE: 25.59 deaths/1,000 live births
FEMALE: 19.89 deaths/1,000 live births

POPULATION DENSITY (people per square kilometer):
292 people per square km.

ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER:
Access is a continuing (seasonally aggravated) problem. Domestic and agricultural pollution has contaminated almost 60% of groundwater. Investment in sewage and sanitizing systems remains a low government priority.

MAIN INDUSTRIES: 
Electronics assembly, garments, footwear, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, wood products, food processing, petroleum refining, fishing

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE(s):
Filipino (based on Tagalog) and English. Eight major dialects also exist.

RELIGION(s):
Roman Catholic 80.9%
Evangelical 2.8%
Iglesia ni Kristo 2.3%
Aglipayan 2%
other Christian 4.5%
Muslim 5%
Other 1.8%
unspecified 0.6%
none 0.1% (2000 census)
*Mindanao is mostly Muslim. There is a Muslim separatist movement, specifically the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group mentioned in multiple sources such as World Factbook, Wikipedia, and Lonely Planet travel guide, to secede from Christian parts of the city.

ARTS/CULTURE:
Music is a mix of European, American, and indigenous music. Southern music often features kulintang (a type of gong) music played at important ceremonies. There is another form of song that is an improvisational duel between the sexes. In the north music is more percussion-like and accompanies dances.
There is also a large annual religious celebration called Fiesta which takes its roots from the Spanish occupation.

POPULAR SPORTS/PASTIMES:
Sipa and cockfighting. Sipa is a court game in which two battling teams kick a ball over a net.

CLIMATE/LANDSCAPE/GENERAL GEOGRAPHY:
The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands. Climate: tropical marines, many monsoons.

GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE:
Republic. Popularly-elected president: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (6-yr. term). There is universal suffrage at 18 with a legal system based on America and Spain. Bicameral legislature with Senate (6-yr. term) and House of Representatives (3-yr. term). Fifteen president-chosen Supreme Court justices appointed for life (until 70).

OTHER KEY ITEMS (ex. Food, landmarks, key historical facts, etc.):
The Philippines' independence from Spain came on June 12th of 1898, and from America on July 4th of 1946.

A high level of remittances helped the Philippines stay afloat during the Asian crisis of '98.

About 9,000 people with HIV/AIDS.