The bungled witch hunt by intelligence units of the Philippine National Police (PNP) against the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) only reflects – in their implementation – the brutish style with which the government’s counterinsurgency policies and directives are issued by the highest level of command. ACT is the sole accredited teachers’ union in the…
For seven Saturdays straight till Dec. 29, the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) continued their protest in Paris and other cities in France. Protesters have occupied rural and suburban rotondas. They threw projectiles at the police, who retaliated with tear-gas grenades and made some arrests. Media reports say the grassroots protest is the first big crisis…
“As we take part in the festivities during this joyous occasion, may we also contemplate on the wealth of lessons we can learn from the narrative of the Savior’s birth to the calls of compassion, kindness and reconciliation being echoed throughout the globe. “Let these ideals and aspirations guide us as we embrace our fellowmen…
Days before Christmas, presidential ranting has continued to rain negative feelings of enmity, ridicule, and vilification against a broad range of critics of government policies and actions or inactions. Worse, it sows fear, intimidation, and threat that “Lulutang tayo dito sa dugo (We will float in blood)” against those branded as “enemies of the state.”…
Upon President Duterte’s behest, the Senate and the House in joint session last Wednesday voted to again extend martial law and suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the whole of Mindanao. This third extension will remain until December 31, 2019. The vote was 235 yes, 28 no, 1 abstention. No doubting…
The Department of Education last Tuesday issued a statement that it “did not order the closure of any school serving indigenous people’s learners.” “This is in view of a recent claim,” it added, “that a Salugpongan learning center in the [Davao] region was closed down ‘upon the order of the Department.” Salugpongan Ta Tanu Igkanogon…
In the last 20 years (1998-2018), public support for populist parties in Europe has risen three times over. This has enabled their leaders to win key government positions in 11 countries and challenge the established political order across the continent. Whereas in 1998 the populist parties accounted for only 7% of the electoral votes across…
When he returns from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting in Papua New Guinea (Nov. 17-18), President Duterte said he would announce if he would meet with Fidel V. Agcaoili and Luis Jalandoni, head and former head now adviser, respectively, of the negotiating panel for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF) in…
Last Tuesday night, human rights lawyer Benjamin Ramos, who assisted the families of the nine farm workers massacred in a Sagay City hacienda on Oct. 20, was gunned down by a tandem of motorcycle-riding men near his home in Kabangkalan City. He was a founding member of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) and…
Convening the National Security Council’s executive committee last Tuesday at the Ebuen military airbase in Cebu, President Duterte issued orders to push harder state actions against the Left revolutionary movement. Specifically he ordered the Department of Justice to pursue its petition for proscription, filed in February at the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 19, urging…
Too bad, that even before the massacre of nine farm workers in Sagay, Negros Occidental has been thoroughly investigated, President Duterte is already echoing the military and police line. Landless farmers, he said, were seizing agricultural lands from the “original tenants after the [sugar] harvest…using violence and intimidation, backed up by the New People’s Army…