This encounter or solidarity with the people in with their pains and struggles helped me understand more the meaning of my being a religious. That I’m supposed to go out and tell the good news of the Resurrection which is the forgiveness of sins, that all is forgiven; nothing is held back.
The national government has also allowed private enterprises and local government units (LGUs) to procure vaccines for their constituents and employees provided that they sign a tripartite agreement with the national government and vaccine manufacturers. The tripartite agreement is meant to ensure vaccine manufacturers that the national government would cover indemnification and the cost of adverse effects.
At first glance, it seems reassuring that the Philippines’ cumulative 884,783 COVID-19 cases as of April 13 is just around half of Indonesia’s 1.58 million infections. However, the Philippines’ 165,534 active cases is the highest in the region and more than Indonesia’s 108,599 active cases – even if Indonesia’s population is over two-and-a-half times bigger.
There is nothing normal in letting the poor remain poor, in letting people get denied healthcare, in letting the activists and human rights defenders being called terrorists and get killed.
The Covid-19 spectre, vaccine mania, deceptive remedial schemes and brutal, anti-people pandemic responses created by militarism and big money have shoved by the wayside pro-people, more sensible and a wider range of prevention and treatment strategies to address the pandemic.
AHW said understaffing schemes by hospitals force health workers to be on duty for at least 12 hours or even 24 hours while some hospitals only have skeletal forces.
We are all called to be prophets of our time; called to denounce injustices and announce the good news; called to offer our lives in the service of humanity, especially the deprived and the oppressed. It seems too ideal, but the fact is, some were already ahead of us in giving testimony. Think of those human rights defenders who dared to speak and defend those who have been deprived of their fundamental rights.
Apart from the red-tagging of Joseph Canlas on social media, threats were felt by members of his family in their own homes.
Many years from now
we shall talk about the moon moving triumphantly
across a red sky;
we shall talk about the trees swaying
amidst red banners on the plaza we shall pass by
Women of San Roque are usually at the frontlines of protests against demolitions. Some of them who are unable to join protests because of responsibilities at home instead express their resistance through participating in their community garden.
Yesterday was Palm Sunday. It is also called Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. Jesus triumphantly enters the holy city of Jerusalem. It is in Jerusalem that the paschal mystery will happen. Jesus rides on a colt like a king. However, the kingship of Jesus is not of power but humility; not to reign but to serve.
The Duterte administration will end in 2022, but Dutertism could still continue to afflict the country for the next six years and even beyond should any of Mr. Duterte’s lackeys, cronies, clones, and surrogates win the presidential election that year.
Among several others, the National Union of People’s Lawyers and the human rights watchdog Karapatan – which both have been red-tagged and whose members have become EJK victims – have welcomed the Supreme Court’s response, the Senate resolution and Drilon’s filing of the anti-redtagging bill.
As I read the Gospel this Sunday, I remember a song from our theatre play production in 2014 about the struggles of the indigenous people in the defense of their ancestral domain.
As the number of cases surged enough to put the Philippines ahead of other countries in Southeast Asia; as millions of workers lost their jobs; as schools and businesses ceased operations and even closed permanently; and as the economy spiraled into a recession, apparently at a loss over what to do, Mr. Duterte on a number of occasions declared that only a vaccine could stop the pandemic.
Amid the national outrage and international concern raised over the March 7 “Bloody Sunday” killing of nine activists in the Southern Tagalog region, urgent calls are being addressed to the Supreme Court to do what it can, while it can, to protect the people’s constitutional rights.
"The arrest came days after the DILG release a memorandum tagging ACT and other progressive groups in the public sector as a communist terrorist groups."
The assumption that education at the basic level should go far beyond the conventional essentials should inform the country’s return to face-to-face classes. Because not everyone can go on to college — where it is presumed that imparting a commitment to civic responsibility and respect for the Bill of Rights are part of the curricula (but often are not) — developing among the young the capacity to make informed decisions as citizens charged with deciding the future of this country should be among the fundamentals of basic education.
The Calabarzon killings were actually the latest of the killings that have provoked such condemnation. Still unresolved are the killings of nine Tumandok indigenous community members in similar police operations in Panay Island last Dec. 30, the attempted slaying of the Tumandoks’ lawyer in Iloilo, as well as the killing by police anti-drug operatives of the mayor of Calbayog City.
Hindi na namin dinig ang kalabugan
ng nag-uunahang daga sa dibdib.
Pag-ibig sa katarungan
ang itinitibok ng aming puso.
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