Mong Palatino is a blogger, activist, and former legislator. He can be reached via his email, mongpalatino@gmail.com.
Mong Palatino is a blogger, activist, and former legislator. He can be reached via his email, mongpalatino@gmail.com.
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino (Talumpating binigkas sa rehiyunal na kongreso ng College Editors Guild Cagayan Valley sa Isabela State University Cauayan noong Setyembre 10, 2015) Una sa lahat, salamat at andito kayo kahit may Aldub ngayon. Huwag gawing obvious...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino Some academics lauded a partylist legislator who resigned from Congress because of the latter’s inability to faithfully represent and defend the majority position of his political party. In particular, the legislator said he...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino If you think activists are too negative, then would you rather prefer the silent optimism of the apathetic? If unimpressed by the political value of streetnoise activism, would you follow the uncritical collaborationism as...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino These are precarious times. We live in a world plagued by mass poverty, chronic hunger, wealth inequality, and racism but we seem to lack the will to overcome these preventable miseries. The world order is already ripe for an...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino I keep silent every time I am tagged a communist. It’s not embarrassment but more of disbelief that in this day and age, a red baiter still thinks that this kind of witch hunt is politically legitimate or even persuasive. How...
QUESTION EVERYTHING By Mong Palatino Bulatlat.com Start by insinuating that it’s evil to be associated with the Left, for example ‘Beware of Left-leaning groups’. There’s no need to elaborate; simply insert the term ‘Left’ in a sentence to warn innocent minds about...
QUESTION EVERYTHING By Mong Palatino Bulatlat.com Some reactionaries in the bureaucracy erroneously assume that their activism in the past makes them intellectually and even morally superior over the present generation of change advocates. Some probably misjudged...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino Was Edsa Dos a coup, power grab, or an uprising? Was it a farce? It may be all of the above but it’s a political event worth celebrating. Why should we allow the Arroyos, Estradas, Aquinos, and the Catholic bishops to dominate the...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino 1. You grew up fantasizing about life in the United States, the land of milk and honey. You were bombarded with seductive images of first world living courtesy of Hollywood. You and your childhood friends wanted a glimpse and taste...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino What did the Philippines, South Korea, and Japan had in common in the 1950s? They all allowed the United States to build military bases in their territories. But in 1991, the Philippines kicked out the bases even if it remained an...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino Tatay Francis Morales. Arnold Borja ‘AJ’ Jaramillo. Recca Noelle Monte. Rendell Ryan ‘Perper’ Cagula. AJ, Recca, and Perper were martyred NPA revolutionaries while Tatay Francis was an environmental activist who succumbed to...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino 1. Journeying to the countryside to live with peasant and IP communities. Nature tripping, mountaineering, and political field work plus more. Tourism is fun but an activist explores the rural not just to celebrate and document...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino A specter is badly needed today, the specter of communism. It is not enough to expose the evils of capitalism; we must offer and revive a leftwing alternative. To borrow a few words from a philosopher, we have already interpreted...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino Bulatlat.com According to some intellectuals and their disciples, it is foolish to join the Left or become a Leftist in the 21st century. They sarcastically remind activists that the Berlin Wall already fell in 1989 and it was...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino Bulatlat.com He had you at “power to the people!” and then he said he wanted to “occupy” your heart, and that you are his 99 percent. Yet you find his world quite exotic, his vocabulary sometimes confusing, although he seems...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino Bulatlat.com 1. President Noynoy Aquino is sincere in abolishing the pork barrel system. PDAF (legislative pork) was abolished but the funds were embedded in the national budget. DAP (presidential pork) was discontinued but the...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino Bulatlat.com 1. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was reestablished on December 26, 1968 in Alaminos, Pangasinan. Its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), was formed on March 29, 1969 in Capas, Tarlac. The...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino Bulatlat.com The annual state of the nation address is a must read for all citizens who are eager to know the president’s self-rated accomplishment report and priority programs. It is also relevant for what it fails to mention or...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino Bulatlat.com Have you ever wondered why there are rallies calling for land reform but none that advocate for women’s right to suffrage? The answer is obvious: The first is a demand by landless farmers which is being virulently...
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino Bulatlat.com I was a congressman for four years (2009-2013) which equaled the number of my undergraduate years at UP Diliman (1996-2000). When asked about my two-term stint in Congress, I often claim that it’s like college but not...
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