A Laguna-based unionist was subjected to surveillance and harassment last August 5, following a series of threats and intimidation of labor leaders in the Southern Tagalog region.
Save the Children Philippines stressed that seven years since the enactment of the Comprehensive Emergency Program for Children, Filipinos have yet to see its effects.
For many Filipino migrant workers abroad, advancements in technology have been able to provide comfort as they navigate the long and painful separation from their children, spouses, and parents back in the Philippines. They can check if their children have done their homework, watch their graduation ceremony live, virtually join a family reunion or birthday celebration, or share a prayer with their ailing mother or father. Smartphones, the internet and social media have become essential tools in their lives as migrants. For most Filipino migrants, visits back to their home provinces are expensive, and these are not even possible for many undocumented OFWs.
Boats have become the main form of transportation in many parts of Calumpit, as wheeled vehicles and even trucks could no longer enter many parts of the town. But boat rides are steep, amounting to P80 per head to reach the town center, and many residents opt to wade through the chest-deep waters.
In the midst of the onslaught of Typhoon Egay (Doksuri) that hit tremendously the northern provinces of the Philippines, I saw this FB post from a high school batchmate. As I continue to browse the social media, she posted another another one, lamenting and telling to God to hug her as she feels weak. Apparently, the 3 cows she owned have been missing as the typhoon begun to strike our home province Abra. My friend is currently in Hong Kong, serving as a domestic worker for the past several years.
It’s generally conceded that the Philippine criminal justice system grinds exceedingly slow. But for the Marcos Jr. administration, the system has been working well after just one year of the family’s being back in Malacañang.
The backpack isn't heavy,
and the masses are waiting.
Expect warmest greetings:
"Oh, what a joyful welcome!"
“We will continue to demand for food, wages, social services and free health services, subsidies, and benefits, rights and good governance, as we continue the fight for better health in a better, more humane and just society."
After the SONA, the likes of Jeff Celiz, Lorraine Badoy Partosa, and NTF-ELCAC mouthpieces look like "kulang sa yakap" from Marcos. They don't have SONA soundbites to misuse.
In his second State of the Nation Address, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was silent on human rights issues during his administration. Meanwhile, indigenous peoples of Gawaan, Balbalan, Kalinga stressed that their community was bombed twice in March 2023.
The burning of effigies dates back to the dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s rule. Burning effigies has become a regular staple during major protests in the Philippines.
President Marcos Jr. pledged to uphold press freedom. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, however, recorded 84 incidents of attacks on the media from June 30, 2022 until July 22, 2023. This number is 42 percent higher compared to the documented cases during Duterte’s first 13 months in office.
We must therefore never forget that contradiction in fighting back for freedom of expression today. Freedom of expression is not a privilege of those in power, but a weapon of the oppressed to safeguard against the abuse of power—whether economic, political, and social.
Growing up in the land, hearing stories of animals, trees, spirit beings, and people from my grandmother have been a huge part of my childhood. Though they may be somewhat far from my reality at that time, they for sure spoke of a reality at a certain period that has been passed down through generations. I could still remember my grandmother’s silky, long, silver hair that smelled like coconut oil, her sagging skin that provided me such comfort, and her voice that is filled with wisdom accumulated through the years.
Sometimes, people just throw up their hands and shake their heads dejectedly: “But what can you do?” But often there’s really no alternative but to fight back, to push back. It happened again, twice, this week.
“This zine offers lessons and hopes. It fortifies the morale of activists targeted in their region, gives inspiration to the hopeless, and reflects the unformidable love for their colleagues— disappeared and were victimized by the state."
Second Isaiah created a synthesis: uniting into one, Israelites beliefs in creation, in the Divine government of history, and Divine will to save. Yahweh is creator. Even the greatest powers are insignificant before him. We know how Israel was conquered by world powers, then transferred from its own soil to another. Within this reality, Second Isaiah’s concept of God evolved.
Human rights violations, highlighted by extrajudicial killings and questionable arrests, detention and filing of nonbailable trumped-up charges following red-tagging, continued during the first year of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s occupation of Malacañang.
“While we at CPA continue to seek legal remedies to ensure our safety, security, and human rights in this shrinking democratic space, the state also weaponizes everything at its disposal to silence us."
The setting of the sun signals the time to come home, a time for rest from the daily toils. But for the poor workers in highly urbanized areas rest is a luxury. The none-stop rotation of work propagated by capitalism, rest is counter-productive.
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