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On Thursday, November 1, during the situation briefing in Isabela province after the onslaught of Typhoon Rosita (Yutu) in Northern Luzon, Duterte said in a mix of English and Filipino:

“These f*cking Catholics, why do they observe All Souls’ Day and All Saints’ Day? We don’t even know who those saints are. Who are those stupid saints? They’re just drunkards,”

“Just stay with me. I’ll give you one patron saint so you can stop searching for one. Get hold of a picture of mine and put it on the altar — Santo Rodrigo,” he added.

Blasphemous words are used by Duterte to excuse himself from accountability of the sins committed by his regime.

People must remember the Duterte’s blasphemous words.

He said: “Who is this stupid God? Estupido talaga itong p***** i** kung ganun. You created something perfect and then you think of an event that would tempt and destroy the quality of your work. How can you rationalize a god…maniwala ka?”

But, Duterte called God “stupid” in June 2018 to divert the attention of the people from the brunt of the TRAIN Law. By calling God “stupid,” the attention of the people and the Philippine churches focused on Duterte’s blasphemous statements rather than condemning the exorbitant taxes imposed by Duterte’s ruthless regime.

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Australian missionary Sr. Patricia Fox left the Philippines on November 3, after 27 years of work helping farmers, indigenous people, workers and urban poor.

Her missionary visa was downgraded to a tourist visa that expires on the Saturday she left. This came after being bad-mouthed by President Rodrigo Duterte as having ‘a foul mouth’, being arrested and held for a night, ordered to be deported and won her deportation case.

Photo by Bro. Ciriaco Santiago III, CSsR

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Muling binuksan sa publiko ang Boracay noong Oktubre 26 matapos ang anim na buwang pagpapasara nito sa utos mismo ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte. Pangunahing layunin nito ang rehabilitasyon at pagtitiyak sa tamang permit at pagsunod sa regulasyon ng mga establisyemento sa buong isla. Ang Boracay ay tinaguriang isa sa pinakamagandang isla sa mundo.

Maraming lokal ng isla na handa na ring bumalik sa naiwan at naantalang trabaho, ngunit dahil sa limitado na lamang ang pagpasok ng turista may mga pangamba pa rin ang mga manggagawa na tuluyang mawalan ng trabaho.

Sa naganap na pagpapalayas sa mga manggagawa’t turista upang i-rehabilitate o ayusin ang isla, may isang bahagi nito ang hindi pa nalinis. Sa likod ng magandang dalampasigan, ang itinagong katutubo sa mata ng mga turista, ang mga Ati. Sila ang unang napalayas bago pa man ang paglilinis.

Nasa gunita ng mga lokal ng isla ang kasaysayan at yaman ng isla. Malinaw sa kanilang alaala na sila ang mga naunang nanakawan, ang nawalan hanggang sa napalayas sa kanilang sariling espasyo.

Higit pa sa pagdumi ng isla ang problema ng mga katutubong Ati. Marami sa kanila ang nanakawan ng sariling lupain. Naging limitado rin ang kanilang paglalakad sa kahabaan ng dalampasigan dahil itinuturing silang mga eyesore. Limitado rin ang oportunidad sa trabaho, lalo na sa mga hotel dahil na rin sa pisikal na katangiang maitim, maliit at kulot, dagdag pa rito ang mababang narating sa larangan ng edukasyon. Ilan lamang ito sa kalagayan ng mga katutubong Ati, na ang ilan sa kanilang lider ay pinatahimik (pinatay) dahil na rin sa pagtatayugod ng kanilang karapatan tulad na lamang ni Dexter Condez.

Isa ring nakaaalarmang proyekto ng lokal na pamahalaan, ang pagsasama-sama nila sa tinatawag na Ati Village na kung saan nagmimistula silang exhibit sa mga mata ng turista. Ang diumanong pamayanan ay nagtataguyod para sa kanilang kabuhayan, maayos na tirahan at pagbibigay seguridad.

Noong Nobyembre 8, nagbigay naman land ownership certificate si Pangulong Duterte sa 45 pamilyang benepisyaryo ng reporma sa lupa mula sa Boracay Ati Tribal Organization para sa 3.2 ektaryang lupa na pag-aari ng gobyerno sa Boracay. Kung tutuusin, maliit pa ring lupa ito sa dapat na lupang ninuno ng mga Ati. At nakakabahala na kaakibat ng pagbibigay ng lupa at programang reporma sa lupa ang pag-uudyok sa mga Ati na ipagbili ang lupa matapos ang 10 taon na pagbabawal sa pagbebenta. Hindi nga ba’t iyon mismo ang kahinaan at butas ng mga programa sa reporma sa lupa sa bansa? Bumabalik ang konsentrasyon ng lupa sa mayayaman at makapangyarihan sapagka’t wala namang pondo at kakayahan ang mga binibigyan ng lupa para pagyamanin ang lupa—kung kaya’t mas nakikita nilang mainam na ibenta ito. Baka matapos ang 10 taon ay makita naman nating ‘ligal’ nang mapalayas ang mga Ati dahil sa kung sila’y mahirapan baka matulak silang maibenta ang kanilang lupang ninuno.

Sa kabila ng pagbabago at pagpapaunlad ng isla, mahalagang maisabay rin ang antas ng pamumuhay ng mga lokal na Ati. Napalaya man natin sa karumihan ang isla, hindi naman natin napalaya ang katutubong nababaon sa dumi ng pang-aalipusta ng mga korporasyong banyaga at lokal.

Sa muling pagbabalik ng ingay at sikip ng isla mula sa dagsa ng turista, sana hindi makalimutang paingayin ang isyu ng mga Aklano—na mapalaya sa mahirap na panlipunang kalagayan sa mayamang isla.

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From the present P512 minimum wage rate in the National Capital Region (NCR), the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-National Capital Region (RTWPB-NCR) approved an additional P25 to increase the wage to P 537.

The P25 wage increase is an abuse of authority and a cruel deed of the oppressors against the workers in the NCR and even nationwide. What would a person buy or spend with P25 pesos?

Ibon foundation says the cost of living for a family of six amounts to P1,168. This only includes expenses on basic needs and does not cover education, health, housing, etc. Given the P537 wage in NCR (the highest in the country), if there are two workers in a family receiving the law-mandated minimum wage will find it hard to make ends meet. The sadder truth behind the low minimum wage in the country is that 80% of workers in Metro Manila are contractual, and contractual workers receive lower than the minimum wage that should be received by regular workers and possibly no benefits.

How much a worker ought to receive a day for a living? The Kilusang Mayo Uno calls for a wage increase of P750 wage increase across the board nationwide, a freeze on oil prices, and a uniform minimum wage nationwide. The P 25 increase is inconsequential, especially as the government prepares for more tax increases in the following year. Increases of taxes mean increases also of the basic commodities and public service fees.

NCR National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) Executive director Criselda Sy’s statement that “the wage board considered the points raised by both employers and employees”  is mendacious.

What are “the points raised”? Who raise “the points”?

The workers had already attested that they are suffering from low wages and lack of benefits because of contructualization. The suffering of the workers had worsened because of the inflation rate and excessive taxes on basic commodities wrought about by the TRAIN Law, and now the fare increase.

The wage increase is “measly” or small according to Roman Catholic Bishops Honesto Ongtioco of Cubao and Broderick Pabillo of Manila.  But the two bishops cannot also tell how much a worker ought to receive a day. It is positive that Bishop Ongtioco recognized that “ordinary workers deserve to receive more,” to “cover the cost of the rise of prices,” as Bishop Pabillo had asserted. They are still praying that the government will reconsider increasing worker’s wage. If the Duterte administration will listen to the prayers of the Bishops, then miracles are still working even today.

But how can a government that favors the employers will listen to the cry of the poor workers?

The Catholic Catechism on Labor defined Human dignity as:

“All of us enjoy an equal dignity for we are all created in the image of one God”

(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1934).

“Factory workers, farm workers, jeepney drivers, tricycle drivers, vendors, all have equal dignity with business owners, land owners, managers, and government leaders. As human persons, whatever our work, we have ―rights and duties which are universal and inviolable… and must have ready access to all that is necessary for living a genuinely human life: for example, food, clothing, housing, … the right to education, and work…”

(Gaudium et Spes, 26).

The Duterte regime continues to fail to apply these social teachings. President Rodrigo Duterte continues to demonstrate that he has no moral authority to lead this country. He is already judged by the injustices, abuses and cruelties amid the suffering of the Filipino people.

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“Ang sariling wika ang magpapalaya sa gapos ng tanikala,” said regional cultural alliance Sining Bugkos and Kabataan Party-list Metro Manila in their cultural caravan that visited various universities in Metro Manila on Wednesday, November 14, to assail the recent Supreme Court decision.

The Supreme Court (SC) decision upheld the removal of Filipino and history subjects in the college curriculum as per stated in the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) memorandum order 20, Series of 2013.

Art as protest

The removal of Filipino language and history subjects in the college curriculum is a direct attack to the culture and education of the Filipino youth, according to youth group Kabataan Party-list Metro Manila.

“The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold CMO 20 series of 2013 manifests its inclination to uphold the colonial orientation of the current system of education. It is an utter disregard to our culture and sends out a message that indicates that our country would rather focus on prioritizing other languages than nurture our own,” said the group’s regional spokesperson Pat Cierva.

A cultural caravan geared to protest the impending implementation of the memorandum order, WIKAravan, was launched today in various universities. The caravan visited University of the Philippines Manila, Mapua University, and Far Eastern University.

Sining Bugkos said they hoped to impart a message on the importance of language and culture as a weapon for continued struggle and resistance.

Drastic implications

In a statement, youth writers’ group Liga ng Kabataang Propagandista (LKP), a group affiliated with Sining Bugkos, blasted the SC decision, citing that “the decision is traitorous and geared to favor only the State and foreign investors.”

“Wika ang pangunahing salamin at pagkakakilanlan ng kultura ng bawat lahi. Walang anumang wika ang makapagpapa-unlad sa ating bayan kundi ang sarili nitong wika. Dapat hubugin at linangin ang kaalamang makabayan at magpakadalubhasa sa ating wika at gamitin ito sa paglinang sa ating isipan para ikauunlad ng bayan,” LKP stated.

(“Language serves as a primary reflection and identity of the culture of the people. There is no other language which could develop our country besides our own native tongue. As such, it must be molded and enrich patriotism. We must be skilled in our own language and use it to nourish our minds for the development of our own nation.”)

“Bukod dito, hindi lamang ang mga estudyante ng hinaharap ang makararanas ng pait sa desisyong ito kundi maging ang mga guro sa kasalukuyan na nangangambang mawalan ng hanap-buhay dahil dito. Ang pagtindig ng Korte Suprema sa CHED MEMO 20 ay pagkitil nito sa ating pakakakilanlan. Tinanggalan tayo ng ating kultura at pilit isinusubo sa ating mga bibig ang wika ng ibang bayan,” LKP continued.

(“Students are not the only casualties in this decision for it will also affect the educators who are on the brink of losing their source of livelihood. SC’s stance on CHED Memo 20 is killing our identity. It eradicates our culture and forces us to imbibe the language of other countries.”)

Teachers’ protest

Meanwhile, according to Tanggol Wika, the alliance of educators and advocates of the Filipino language who filed the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on CMO 20 in 2015, manifested that 10,000 teachers were bound to lose their jobs or face reduced teaching loads due to the decision, a sentiment that is shared by the youth and cultural groups behind WIKAravan.

“The youth, along with the cultural workers, the educators, and the larger groups of masses shall continue to wage campaigns to drumbeat this issue. We will not be silenced by this attempt to further bastardize our education and our future. We shall continue to unite with other people who share our causes. This decision, a product of our colonial education, will only serve as our fuel to advocate for an education that is nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented. One that is geared to develop the nation and not to paralyze it into submission to other dominant foreign countries.” Cierva ended.

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Save our Schools Network (SOS) held a press conference in the College of Education, University of the Philippines in Quezon City on November 15 to protest the ongoing Martial law in Mindanao and any proposals for a third extension as the deadline at the end of 2018 draws near.

The group called on child’s rights advocates to join them to protest Martial Law in Mindanao on Universal Children’s Day celebration this November 20 in UP Diliman.

The group said direct attacks on children rights worsened especially in Mindanao due to the implementation of Martial Law and the president’s open threat to bomb lumad schools last year.

“Despite the fact that the Philippine government ratified UNCRC in 1990, children’s rights are continuously violated and neglected especially under the current government,” said Rius Valle, SOS spokesperson.

According to the United Nation (UN), November 20 is an important date in 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. Also, in 1989, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“Children from different sectors suffer from worsening poverty, child labor, child trafficking and became victims of Oplan Tokhang,” Valle said.

Valle also said that the Children’s Day Celebration, will not be happy for the children especially in Mindanao where the Martial law has been in force since May 2017.

In the press conference, Mayla Gantangan, 13 yrs old student of CLANS Lumad Community School said that President Duterte should respect their right to live and their right to education.

“Our families and communities are under threat because of Martial Law. The bombing in our school disrupt our education. We are displaced from our own land because of the military operation,” Gantangan added.

Martial law extension threat to children, human rights violations

SOS Network strongly oppose the possible extension of Martial Law in Mindanao for 2019 that they say will cause more human rights violations against the Lumad.

Gantangan said they do not want another Martial Law extension in their communities so they can return to cultivate their own lands and to continue their education.

Based on the group’s records, 535 cases of attacks on Lumad schools were registered since the Martial law was declared last 2017. This has affected 2,460 Lumad students, teachers and parents.

“These cases refute the statement of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año that there are no abuses by the military and police during Martial Law in Mindanao,” Valle added.

The group also reiterated the killings of two Lumad students and eight members of parent-teachers-community associations (PTCA) of schools.

Added to this were the 111 cases of trumped up charges and illegal arrest of teachers and PTCA members and the 2,400 cases of Lumad students and teachers being forced by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to surrender as members of the New Peoples’ Army.

“These communities and schools have been attacked by AFP and paramilitary on the basis of Martial Law. They have suffered unfounded claims of red tagging these schools as communist fronts. This has deprived children and Lumad of their rights and freedoms,” Valled said.

Valle said the motive of extending Martial Law is not peace and order, but pacifying and clearing out communities for the expansion of large scale mining and agri-plantations in Mindanao.

“President Duterte is pushing for business over services, foreigners over the Filipino and Lumad. We should not blindly accept these lies and fake scenario of building peace. We should resist another Martial Law extension and push for the restoration of peace for the Lumad communities,” he said.

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As Atty. Benjamin T. Ramos is laid to rest today, the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) joins all those he left behind in grief and remembrance.

We remember Atty. Ben, our co-counsel in cases of political prisoners, as a jolly fellow who enjoyed good-natured ribbing as well as hearty legal challenges. Atty. Ben was quick to aid Benito Quilloy and Rita Espinoza who were wrongfully arrested in Kabangkalan a year ago, never minding long drives on precarious and dirt roads. He went up against not only the local police but top military brass, barrelling through the anti-Red propaganda. When he himself was maliciously labelled and targeted by the police and military, he mostly brushed it off as part of the job and continued to lawyer the same.

Said a wise man: “The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.” Atty. Ben was a giver, never asking for much except faith and support in his work with the people. So we must, as the earth falls around him now, rise to the standards of lawyering he has set for us all: to give not only time and effort, but our very selves.

This gift, nay, the obligation, of commitment more than ever, is made all the more urgent by the lawyers and officials on the spectrum opposite us – those who cannot respect rights, those who do not desire real peace. Every time President Duterte launches a tirade against human rights defenders, every time he calls on the public to kill kill kill all those not for him, he emboldens our ranks.

Though Duterte has consistently undermined our work in people’s rights, though he practically gave the go-signal to the killers of Atty. Ben, we cannot falter. Atty. Ben has left behind a family, peasant clients, fellow activists, victims of the state, all hungry for justice. He was a giant in our midst, and there is much more to do to deal with his loss. This is not a time to cower behind the shadow of death. This is the time to close ranks and fight back.

Long live Atty. Ben!
Justice for Atty. Ben!

Public Interest Law Center (PILC)

Atty. Rachel F. Pastores
Atty. Amylyn B. Sato
Atty. Carlos A. Montemayor, Jr.
Atty. Maria Kristina C. Conti

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The death of human rights lawyer Benjamin “Ben” Ramos Jr. last November 6 depicts the level of barbarity Philippine politics has sunk into and the staggering sense of inevitability of the consequences for the socially conscious Filipino intellectual.

One is hardly surprised at the fate of Ben Ramos Jr. a “passionate, dedicated and articulate” defender of “peasants, environmentalists, activists, political prisoners and mass organizations in Negros.” According to the National Lawyer Guild–International Committee, Ben “is the 34th lawyer killed under the Duterte administration.”

In a short span of two years under the Duterte administration, there has been a tremendous number of persecution and killings of lawyers, priests, religious workers, journalists, peasant leaders, student activists, and political rivals and the thousands of victims and affected by the immoral war on drugs. Political violence is no rarity in the country, but such level is quite unprecedented in recent history. For the first time in our national history we have a government, represented by the president, whose passion for violence is the guiding principle of most its policies. Thus encouraging and fomenting a culture of violence in a country that is devastated by the present socio-politico-economic crisis which seems to verge on hopelessness, compounded by the incompetence of past administrations. Whatever direction one looks, one expects to see blood: the excessive force and power allotted to the police and military who regularly abuse them; local politicians who, in imitation of the president, engage in their own brutal version of drug war; armed vigilante groups financed by powerful landowners in close company with the military and the police.

Despite all this, we encounter committed and courageous public intellectuals like Ben Ramos Jr. and that makes a difference and gives us hope.

Ben best stands for what a socially conscious intellectual means by the people he represented and the causes he fought for. Before his death he was “counsel for the Mabinay 6, six youth activists who were arrested in April 2018 on trumped up charges… and the Sagay 9, nine unionized sugarcane farmworkers who were brutally massacred on October 20 for occupying land that was rightfully theirs.”

And the way he lived is touchingly exemplary for its dignity and simplicity. Ben’s widow Clarissa recalled that most of his cases were unpaid; his poor clients, peasants and fishermen of his province, offer in return for Ben’s legal services “banana, fish, chicken, vegetables and sometimes Christmas lantern.” He owned neither a house nor a car in stark contrast to the extravagant, luxurious-loving lifestyles of our power-obsessed politicians who see our country through the tainted windows of their high-class cars. Nevertheless, in spite of the lack of material rewards, he dedicated his intelligence, compassion, energy, and gaiety to the oppressed folks.

It’s difficult to imagine our politicians getting paid with fruits and vegetables or poultry and not owning a house or a car of their own. Because if that were the case, none of our politicians today would run for office again.

Ben’s intellectual work as a lawyer was deeply connected to the suffering of farmers and fisherfolk of his hometown in Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental. He was organically linked to this oppressed class, living and working with them through Paghida.et sa Kauswagan Development Group (PDG), a nongovernment organization he cofounded to assist and support the farmers and fishermen in his town.

Such work affirms the side to which the Filipino intellectual dedicates himself: truth and justice, the need to assert the humanity of the oppressed as opposed to power and privilege, the search of status and wealth which is the overwhelming fashion in our political culture.

Although he could have taken a more comfortable path, Ben chose the peripheral, dangerous but significant role in and to the most oppressed class in our society. The role of a socially conscious public intellectual.

To be regarded as a public intellectual implies undertaking tasks outside his or her own specialized field which entails, as Edward Said the Palestinian-American intellectual noted and exemplified, “passionate engagement, risk, exposure, commitment to principles, vulnerability and being involved in worldly causes.”

 

The quest for truth and justice in a country like the Philippines is not only unrewarding, moreover frequently punished. The mixture of intelligence, compassion and action as embodied by Ben is a serious threat to the powers that be for it inspires emancipatory possibilities, preserving the ideals of freedom, love and justice which our elected leaders with their unique nihilism have utterly abandoned.

If the public looks up to politicians as public intellectuals from what Said underlines, from the most objective, rational point of view, politicians are a compete failure. Politicians who treat their work merely as a profession, as “something you do for a living, between the hours of nine and five with one eye on the clock, and another cocked at what is considered to be proper, professional behavior- not rocking the boat, not straying outside the accepted paradigms or limits making yourself marketable and above all presentable, hence uncontroversial and unpolitical and ‘objective’,” criticized Said.

On the other hand, to be a public intellectual in Ben’s representation is to face constantly the possibility of death. Threats, harassments, intimidation, blackmail are all part of the grim predicament confronting the intellectual. Political tagging the main technique whereby critics of the administration are automatically labelled as rebels, terrorists, communists, and even addicts. Ben’s name was on the terror list by the police. Tagging has been the ideological weapon and justification for most of the political killings in the country. Ben himself was not spared of this ridiculous repression. He was killed pitilessly in a mafia style shooting on November 6. He was 53 years old.

In the face of this level of human brutality, we are inspired by Ben’s courage, intelligence, and above all, his love for the small people. Ben’s unselfishness and intellectual calling seems too remote, too alien in our present age where excessive individualism, fame, narcissism, material possession, love of success are values to be prized and emulated. Yet he proved by his example the demanding responsibility of a true public intellectual and the cost of the pursuit of truth and justice.

Power and privilege and truth and justice are two incompatible and irreconcilable things. The intellectual (in Ben’s standards) cannot embrace the two together: to choose the former implies the renunciation of the latter. Power and privilege demands conformity and acquiescence “not straying outside the accepted paradigms or limits making yourself marketable and above all presentable, hence uncontroversial and unpolitical and ‘objective’”, remarked Said. On the other hand, truth and justice demand laborious and daring acts of moral courage, “passionate engagement, risk, exposure, commitment to principles, vulnerability and being involved in worldly causes.”

While politicians are a failed class of intellectuals the pervading culture of consumption has exacerbated our seriously ailing intellectual culture. The public now looks up to Kris Aquino, Boy Abunda, Karen Davila, Ted Failon and other mainstream figures as intellectuals despite their complete lack of understanding on serious issues. For quite obvious reason: they entertain; they do not teach to think. The addiction of entertainment in the Philippines has gone to irrational heights which is caused perhaps by our failed educational system which in part is a victim of a failed economy. Mindless entertainment does not require us to think, to exercise our critical acumen, but to be passive, to be subservient to what is being told us, to consume and consume: To be uncritical consumers.

Ben’s example suggests that we are more than consumers, that those who have the resources and privilege have the responsibility to take the side of truth and justice. This is a great task.

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If the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the order of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to exclude Filipino and Philippine literature courses in college proves anything, it is only the severe consequences of K to 12 to our national identity and to the future of our country.

Since its inception, ACT Philippines has consistently expressed opposition to the K to 12 program due to its neoliberal and colonial orientation. It aims to classify the Filipino youth into two categories—on the one hand, the ‘less fortunate’ to finish Grade 12 and serve as an army of cheap labor and semi-skilled workers, and on the other, the ‘lucky’ few who will make it through college and specialize in various fields—both meant to serve foreign capital.

K to 12 has weakened the pedagogy of nationalism and thrust of serving the people. Among its first casualties was Philippine History, which had earlier been removed from the junior high school curriculum. Significant events in history, like the Phil-Am War and Marcos’ martial law, were inadequately and sometimes even incorrectly discussed in teaching modules and textbooks. Important literary works are reduced to mere summaries or worse, used only as contexts in the study of foreign literature and culture. While learning about our own language devaluates, studying foreign languages is encouraged, such as in the case of the Korean language which will be taught in 10 National Capital Region (NCR) schools.

Access to education became more difficult under K to 12. According to the Department of Education (DepEd), more than 4 million youth are out-of-school. The number of drop outs swelled after the government, instead of establishing new schools, turned over senior high school education to private schools through the voucher system. Handing public funds over to private institutions have been deemed anomalous as millions of students continue to struggle to afford expenses which are not covered by the vouchers.

K to 12 worsened the quality of education in the country. The addition of two years in high school stretched the already tight education resource. The inadequacy in classrooms, books, teachers, and other materials was furthered. Not a few teachers have lamented the ineffectiveness of K to 12 curriculum in the development of students.

K to 12 is a calvary to teachers. Aside from heftier work, it also threatens the job of 10,000 teachers of Filipino and Philippine Literature in the tertiary level. Transferring Filipino teachers in college to teaching in senior high school is not a solution. This has been done to many teachers in several universities and it has only resulted to diminution of salaries coupled with heavier workload.

K to 12 fails to even fulfill its own promises of fast and easy employment for senior high school graduates. Just this March, the business sector rejected senior high school graduates because they allegedly failed to meet industrial standards.

In its 8 years of implementation, K to 12’s disastrous effects to the youth, the education system, and the future of the country has become evident. The K to 12 program must immediately be junked. The country needs a nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented education that values language, literature, and history which would serve as a powerful tool for social transformation towards the creation of a free, peaceful, democratic, and developed Philippines.

For more information, you may contact  ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio 0917 593 1202.

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Daily news on the reactions of the security cluster of the Duterte administration over the three-year-strong ABS-CBN teleserye, “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano” (originally starred by Philippine cinema’s King of Action and then-presidential aspirant or some may claim loser only through elections cheating—Fernando Poe, Jr.) were monitored in the last week, just like how Filipino audience hang on the stories of their favorite primetime soap operas.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde and Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año top-billed the daily tit-for-tat offensives against the Coco Martin-starrer hit action-drama series.

Albayalde and Año seem to be striking coordinated jabs against Ricardo Dalisay aka ‘Cardo’ (in the titular role of Ang Probinsyano) as they were consistent in threatening the show producers, creative team, actors and the Kapamilya network of being charged in court for “giving a bad impression of the Philippine police forces.” Duterte’s top security officials even banned the show’s production team from using PNP facilities and assets for taping and shooting purposes.

The PNP’s criticisms and threats to “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano” drew flak from the show’s followers, legislators, netizens and cultural artists groups, as it is said to “set a dangerous threat to freedom expression.” Artists cry foul over issues of censorship, looming dictatorship and curtailment of artistic freedom—especially with the PNP’s offer to meddle into the storyline if only to stop their threats.

The attack against Cardo of his fellow men in uniform in the real world is not a new thing in our country’s history.

Voltes V and the Marcos dictatorship

‘Batang 70’s’ knows and remembers well how their childhood were robbed of their favorite animé shows by the late dictator president Ferdinand Marcos during the dark days of Martial Law.

Stories from Martial Law kids and survivors were clear that on 1979, the Marcos regime banned ‘Choudenji Machine Voltes V’ and other Super robot titles like ‘Mazinger Z’ or ‘Getter Robo’ and ‘Charlies Angels’ from being aired on television.

Despite having an extremely strong following, Voltes V and others were prohibited to be shown supposedly because “the station airing it was beating two other government-run station in the rating,” and “that the shows have violent contents and had negative impacts on children” during those times.

But most Filipinos did not buy such excuses fron Marcos. Some says that the theme and storyline of Voltes V, narrating resistance against an aristocratic empire and unity and collective action to triumph against evil, is the real and main reason for the ban of this program.

Aside from its plot, more than the censorship against Voltes V, the attack of Marcos against free press and the worsening state of human rights under Martial Law were said to inspire the Filipino people in rising up in EDSA on 1986 that toppled down the tyrannical rule of Marcos.

True enough that Voltes V marked a historical significance in Philippine history.

Cardo and the Duterte dictatorship

Four decades after, history seems to be repeating itself with the repression of Cardo and ‘FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano.’

With the current run of the story of the hit series, characters portraying the oppressed Filipino people were starting to question the status quo as corruption, extrajudicial killings, rights abuses and other social ills were being rampant in the fictional teleserye setting.

The story even reflects issues of labor disputes, ecology, environment, mining, drugs, insurgency, peace, up to concerns of urban planning and rural set-up.

The production team of ‘FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano’ already defended their program and has been consistent in reiterating their disclaimer that the show is fictional and is not aimed to destroy reputation of individuals and institutions.

Aside from free expression advocates and groups, the show also gained sympathy from FPJ’s daughter and Philippine legislator Senator Grace Poe-Llamanzares, who also defended the program and sees nothing wrong with its plot as it sheds reality with the state of the police institution.

To normal viewers, the storyline of the show sometimes only mimics or echoes the headlines in the news—and this technique actually continually gave the show second wind in its long-run (when normally shows were signed for only three months and to extend depending on its popularity). What better way to grip viewers’ attention if not show their favorite actors act and experience what normal people already know and experience in the real world?

The stories and plot of Voltes V characters up to the epic story of Ricardo Dalisay are part of fiction. But they do tell us to look to real issues and stories. And to lessons that prove people’s struggles and collective actions are needed to question and oppose oppression and social evils. To bring about change.

After three years of FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano, the story has wound and wound and now its millions of followers muse its happy ending, a happy ending for its protagonist who used to be in the blue uniform—if the show is anywhere near it’s popularity’s end. And just like in television and movie programs, where conflicts were being resolved by confrontation scenes and that good prevails over evil acts, our social problems against dictatorship and tyranny in history may only lead to a common ending — the fall of dictator regimes and a happy ending of Filipino people struggling for genuine social change.

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Hundreds of children and child rights advocates gathered at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman on November 20, in time with the celebration of the United Nations’ Universal Children’s Day.

Save Our Schools Network (SOS), Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concern and Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC) called for an end to Martial Law in Mindanao, for the protection of children’s rights and the defense of ancestral land and Philippine territory.

Groups held a unity march around the campus, presented cultural performances from different children’s organizations and ended the day with ‘palarong pinoy.’

“Children’s Day is supposedly a celebratory day emphasizing how the government champions the promotion and protection of children’s rights, however, this is far from reality. The battle against all forms of abuses and violence against the Filipino children is far from over, especially that such is permitted by no less than the government and President Rodrigo Duterte himself,” said Eule Rico Bonganay, Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Rehabilitation Secretary General.

Bonganay also added that under Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, children and human rights violations are becoming more rampant, with most of the victims of extrajudicial killings coming from poor families.

Attacks on children

According to the data of CRC, seven children were killed under the Duterte administration, among them the two victims were massacred in Sagay, Negros Occidental along with seven farmers.

“Lester, a 14 year old child, survived the October 20 massacre in Sagay and a 10 year old lad survived a gunshot in Bukidnon last November 5, these gross human rights violations were all perpetrated by state agents, their paramilitary minions, and goons of landlords,” said CRC Officer-in-Charge Frances Bondoc.

The group also monitored 1,028 lives of children placed in great danger or even cases of frustrated killings, arising from direct shooting, aerial bombing, indiscriminate firing and strafing by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police and government-backed paramilitary groups.

“From July 2016 to March 2018, a total of 136,945 children are victims of human rights violations from 447 incident of human rights violations involving children,” Bondoc said.

Bondoc also lamented that children’s rights has constantly been jeopardized as more children fall victims to counterinsurgency operations and war on drugs.

The incident last November 18 where five students of Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation Inc. were rounded up by members of the 19th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army is a proof to this, Bondoc said. The report on the incident indicated that the teenagers were heavily interrogated and intimidated by the military. Also, the two male teens were physically assaulted by the army after failing to answer questions asked them and insinuated that they know the whereabouts of the New People’s Army.

“Children were not spared from threat, harassment, torture and other forms of violations especially in rural areas with extremely heavy military presence, like in Mindanao which is under Martial rule,” Bondoc disclosed.

Bondoc also lamented the case of the 15-year old teenager girl who was raped by a police officer allegedly in exchange for her parent’s liberty from drug cases.

Child rights advocates slam Xi Jin Ping visit

SOS hit the visit of Chinese President Xi Jin Ping. Groups said that Chinese interests in the Philippines are among the causes of human rights violations in the country, on Duterte’s backing for the exploitation of Philippines’ natural resources and selling of ancestral lands.

“We believe that the imposition of Martial Law and its extension is primarily aimed to suppressing the growing peoples’ resistance against continued plunder of natural resources, which have caused various forms of children’s rights violations especially among the Lumad and Moro communities,” said Rius Valle, Spokesperson of SOS.

Valle also added that instead of upholding Filipino children’s rights, Duterte is more interested in selling out the Philippines natural resources, land and territory to powerful capitalist countries such as China.

According to the group’s reports, many of the China-funded projects are located in Mindanao areas and they saw this as among the reasons for the Duterte administration’s push to extend martial law to ensure the uncontested implementation.

“The debt-driven Build, Build, Build projects of the government will only aggravate case of land grabbing and conversion, displacement of indigenous people and other human rights violations,” Valle said.

Meanwhile, Bonganay disclosed that the Indigenous people’s ancestral lands are plundered by big local and foreign companies of mining, logging and plantation. He insisted that this is a big insult to the Filipino people and shows how Duterte sells out Philippines sovereignty, territory and resources that deprives children brighter and prosperous future.

“Duterte will never succeed in grabbing our land much more in quelling the people’s resistance and the children’s resistance,” Valle concluded.

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Nitong ika-16 ng Nobyembre ay dinaos ang ika-14 taong pag-aalala at paggunita sa pitong martir ng masaker Hacienda Luisita.

Muling nagkaisa ang mga magsasaka at iba’t-ibang sektor sa bayan upang igiit ang hustisya para sa mga manggagawang bukid at magsasaka ng Hacienda Luisita. Matapos ang 14 na taon, wala pa ring hustisya. Marami pa ang pinatay matapos ang masaker. Patuloy pa ring gumagawa ng pakana ang mga Cojuangco para mapigilan ang pagpapatupad ng desisyon ng Korte Suprema noong 2012 pabor sa pamamahagi ng lupa para sa mga magsasaka. At wala pa ring tunay na reporma sa lupa sa bansa.

Sa malakolonyal at malapyudal na sitwasyon dito sa ating bansa ay walang maaasahan ang mga magsasaka mula sa gobyerno. Sa loob ng napakaraming administrasyon, hindi lamang sa pamumuno ng mga Cojuangco-Aquino na makailang-ulit na kinakitaan ng masaker ng mga magsasaka ang paghahari (halimbawa na lang ang masaker sa Mendiola noong 1987 nang pangulo si Corazon Aquino at kapapangako ng reporma sa lupa matapos mapatalsik sa puwesto ang diktador na si Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. at ang pamamaril sa Kidapawan sa mga magsasakang matagal nang pinagkaitan ng pinangakong rleeif goods at namamatay sa gutom buhat ng pananalasa ng el niño), mas inuuna ang interes ng iba at tanging pinagsisilbihan lamang ang mga naghaharing uri.

Si Nanay Luning, 55 taong gulang, kasapi ng Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) at isa sa mga biktima ng pamamaril sa hanay ng mga magsasaka noong Nobyembre 16, 2004. Nakaligtas siya sa masaker.

Ani Nanay Luning, “Taas sweldo at dagdag trabaho lang ang hinihingin namin.”

Nang taong iyon, nasiwalat na ang mga manggagawang bukid at magsasaka ng Hacienda Luisita ay nakatatanggap na lamang ng siyam na piso kada araw ng paggawa mula nang sila ay gawing ‘stock holder’ ng kumpanya nang piniling opsyon ng mga may-ari ng asyenda ang stock distribution option sa ilalim ng Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) ng noo’y Pangulong Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino—isa rin sa mga may-ari ng asyenda.

Ang karanasang iyon ang nagpaigting sa kanilang pakikibaka para sa tunay na reporma kung saan palagian ang kanilang pagluwas kada martes patungong Maynila upang ihayag ang kanilang mga hinaing. May kakapusan man sa budyet ay pilit nila itong pinagkakasya, magising lang ang habag na konsenysa ng Korte Suprema. Bumuo rin sila ng mga piketlayn sa 10 barangay at dalawang paggawaang saklaw ng asyenda. Ngunit imbes na pakinggan ang kanilang mga hinaing ay karahasan pa ang sinagot sa kanila.

Mga ilang araw ring ‘di nakikita ng maayos si Nanay Luning matapos ang araw ng masaker.

Hinagisan daw sila ng malalaking tipak ng mga bato. Animo’y mga patak na lamang ng ulan na nanggaling sa langit. Tila di pa ata nakuntento at sila ay pinaulanan ng tear gas.

Naalala ni Nanay Luning noon, imbis na magpatinag ay mas lalong umusbong ang tapang sa puso nila. Ngunit masyadong berdugo ang kaaway, Naglabas pa sila ng mga APC at pinaulanan ng bala ang mga magsasakang tanging hiling lang ay lupang sakahan.

Ang masaker ay nagresulta ng mahigit 120 na sugatan, mahigit 130 na nadakip, ‘di tiyak na bilang ng nawawala at pitong namatay.
Tila isang milagro para kay Nanay Luning ang kanyang pagkakaligtas, maging na rin ang kanyang pamilya.

Sa kabila ng madilim na pangyayari, nagpatuloy sila Nanay Luning.

Sapagkat, muli silang bumalik upang kuhanin ang mga kasamang binawian ng buhay at mga sugatan.

“Walang takot kaming nagbalik dito, kinuha namin ang mga bangkay, dinala namin mula dito. Dito namin sila mismo ibinurol,” kwento ni Nanay Luning.

Muli rin daw nilang itinayo ang kanilang mga kubol at patuloy daw silang sisigaw hanggang sa kanila’y may nabubuhay, hanggang sila’y humihinga.

Kahit papano’y may naging usad ang usad naman ang usapin sa lupa, ngunit ‘di pa rin tuluyang napagtatagumpayan dahil sa nirereklamo ng mga magsasaka sa kabulukan ng sistema at pakikipagsabwatan ng Department of Agrarian Reform sa pamilya Cojuangco.

May mga lupang naipamahagi ngunit tila ginawa pa itong isa laro. Ang mabubunot sa tambyolo ang siyang makakatanggap ng halos 0.6 lamang na hektaryang lupa. Kakarampot na nga lang ay naramdaman nilang pinaglalaruan pa sila.

“Para kaming nasa game show na kung sino ang mabubunot ay siyang papalarin,” wika ni Nanay Luning.

Hiniling nila na sana’y ang lupang matatanggap nila ay yung dati na nilang tinatamnan upang ‘di na sila mahirapan mag-asawa.

“Kung kulang, pwede namang dagdagan. Kung sobra, maari naman nilang bawasan,” sabi ni Nanay Luning.

Ngunit sila’y mga bingi’t bulag.

Ang mga lupang kanilang natanggap ay malayo ang distansya sa isa’t-isa. Mapahanggang ngayon ay patuloy pa rin silang tinatakot ng mga militar.

“Di natin masasabi kung hanggang saan ang buhay natin. Ika nga ni Nanay Luning ay mas maganda nang nabuhay ka ng alam mong ikaw ay lumaban kaysa sa alam mo namang inaapi ka na, wala ka pang ginagawa,” sabi ni Nanay Luning.

Naikumpara niya nga ang pakikibaka sa isang taong nag-aabang na malalaglag ang prutas sa bibig n’ya.

“Walang mangyayari kung tutunganga ka lang, kailangan mong tumindig para maabot ang yung minimithi,” wika niya.

Ang tanging panawagan lamang ni Nanay Luning ay yung mawala na ang mga militar na dinedeploy nila. Mga militar na nagkakampo na wala nang ibang ginawa kundi takutin ang mamamayan.

Hiling rin niya, sana’y huwag panghinaan ng loob ang kanyang kasama. Mas paigtingin pa ang init ng pakikibaka.

“Huwag matakot o panghinaan ng loob upang ang tagumpay ay pare-parehas nating makamtan,” sumamo ni Nanay Luning.

Mula sa mga tinuran ni Nanay Luning, dapat nating balikan ang mga aral ng sama-samang pagkilos ng mga mangangawang bukid at magsasaka mula sa Hacienda Luisita. Muli nating dakilain ang pitong martir na inalay ang kanilang buhay sa ngalan ng pakikibaka para sa makatwirang sahod. Muli nating parangalan ang lahat pang nagmartir matapos ang masaker—dahil sila ay magsasaka, aktibista, pari o lider na sumuporta sa pakikipaglaban ng magsasaka. Muling gunitain ang welgang bayan na magbibigay sa atin ng inspirasyon upang pag-ibayuhin pa ang laban kontra sa monoplyong kontrol sa lupa ng nga naghaharing uri dito sa bansa.

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“Panginoon, aking dinadalangin nawa na kami ay magkaisa, at isulong ang aming layunin na ipaglaban ang mga karapatan bilang isang mangagawang bukid at mangagawa. Panginoon, ang hustisya hanggang ngayon ay di po namin nakamit, ang katarungan, Panginoon, kaya pakinggan mo po kami sa umagang ito.”

Iyan ang panalangin ni Pastor Gab Sanchez sa tarangkahan ng Central Azucarera De Tarlac (CAT), labing-apat na taon matapos maganap ang masaker na kumitil sa buhay ni Juancho Sanchez, kanyang anak.

Ibinahagi ni Sanchez sa panayam na noong araw ding iyon, sa ika-10 araw ng welgang bayan, nandoon siya nang magsimulang magpaulan ng mga bala mula sa looban ng CAT. “…(A)ko ay nandyan mismo, at ako ay napatakbo hanggang sa aming barangay, Brgy. Balete.” 

Nagsimula bilang manggagawang bukid ng Hacienda Luisita si Pastor Gab sa edad na 12 noong 1962 hanggang 1980. Sa loob ng 18 taon ng paggawa, naranasan niya ang hirap sa loob ng hacienda. Sa kabila nito, ayon sa kanya, wala silang napapala dahil sa mababang pasahod.

Ilang araw nang idinaraos ang welgang bayan bago ang insidente, “Kaya nagkaroon dito ng isang mapayapang protesta upang ipaglaban nila ang kanilang mga karapatan.”

Nandoon naman ang kanyang anak na si Juancho, 20, para makiisa sa mga nakikibakang manggagawang bukid. Si Juancho noon ay isang mag-aaral sa ikatlong taon ng kursong Mechanical Engineering. Napilitang tumigil si Juancho upang makatulong sa kanyang pamilya bilang jeepney driver.

“Si Juancho, patay na siya, sa aming puso siya ay buhay na buhay, at sa mga manggagawang bukid,” pag-alala ni Pastor Gab habang nagpapatuloy ang protesta sa CAT.

Alas tres ng hapon, Nobyembre 16, 2004, nang maganap ang madugong Hacienda Luisita Masaker. Labing-apat na taon na ang nakalilipas sa pagkakataong ito na bumalik si Pastor Gab kung saan ito naganap, kasama niyang muli ang iba pang manggagawang bukid na nandoon din sa araw ng masaker, at mga kaanak ng mga tulad niyang naulila. Patuloy silang nananawagan para sa pamamahagi ng lupa, at para sa mailap na hustisya.

Kasama rin nila ang iba pang mga magsasaka sa Gitnang Luzon na ipinaglalaban din ang kanilang mga karapatang magbungkal, at iba pang mga sumusuporta sa kanilang laban.

Sa kasalukuyan, buhay na buhay ang kilusang bungkalan sa mga lupain ng Hacienda Luisita.

Sa lumipas na 14 taong kawalan ng hustisya sa nangyaring masaker sa Hacienda Luisita, kasama ni Pastor Gab ang iba pang mga kaanak ng mga napatay at mga mangagawang bukid na nandoon din sa araw ng masaker.  Patuloy din ang pagpanawagang ibigay na ang lupa sa mga mangagawang bukid na tunay na nagmamay-ari ng mga ito ayon sa desisyon ng Supreme Court noong  April 24, 2012.

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“Fifty-eight were dead. They traveled far and long, taken to Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman where a still undetermined number of people were killed. Evidence showed 58 dead. Make no mistake about it, it was possible more than 58 were killed but evidence could only support 58. All those missing at that time, people were talking about around 70 were killed. Every year during the commemoration, we have to apologize to those we still have not found, still have not identified. The perpetrators of this crime executed it with the intent of erasing the crime, all the victims,” recollected journalism educator Prof. Danilo Arao.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) chapters and members in Metro Manila lit candles on November 23 at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City to commemorate the ninth year of the Ampatuan massacre.

“We hope that we continue to commemorate this day in the coming years. We continue to unite in the face of repression—as what happened to Rappler earlier this year. Then, we held a Black Friday protest. Today, it is a Friday, another Black Friday protest,” said Arao.

The Ampatuan massacre claimed 58 lives, 32 of which were journalists covering an election-related event.

They were on their way to a local Commission on Elections office to witness the filing of the certificate of candidacy for then-Buluan vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, running against then-incumbent mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., when they were flagged and killed by gunmen in Ampatuan town. Those killed included Mangudadatu’s wife, his two sisters, journalists, lawyers, aides, and motorists who were mistakenly identified as part of the convoy.

The Committee to Protect Journalists tagged the massacre as the single deadliest event for journalists in history.

Arao pledged that journalism educators would educate their students not just to fight for freedom of the press or freedom of expression, but also for the basic liberties of the people to also counter the ‘culture of impunity’ that the country long suffered.

“Like what is taught in universities on journalism, the normative standard of journalism in a poor country like the Philippines, we see that our task is not just to report. Our basic task is to fight to restore and strengthen our basic liberties, not only of the press, but also the basic human rights of the people. A journalist educator once said, ‘in the absence of freedom, it is the journalist’s responsibility to fight for it. This is the normative standard on our performance of our duties in our daily reporting tasks,” said Arao.

Case of the century

“We were told the decision will come out in a month, next month, in another month. We waited and waited, but there’s still no decision. What we want now is not just for a decision to come out now, but for the Ampatuans to be convicted—this is the call of the victims’ kin,” said NUJP Secretary General Dabet Panelo.

Panelo shared that the NUJP adopted the call of the families, “Justice Now” and “Convict Ampatuan.”

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court handling the case stated in a briefer that of the 197 accused, 117 were arrested and 80 remain at large. One hundred four accused remain on trial. Five of the suspects died. Andal Ampatuan Sr., the clan patriarch and alleged mastermind of the massacre died in detention in 2015.

Last November 5, Ampatuan Jr. submitted his formal offer of evidence to wrap up the trial that started in January 2010. The prosecution panel has announced that the case against him is already submitted for decision.

Department of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that the decision is expected early next year. The promulgation date has not yet been set.

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