Bulatlat Contributors | Jul 11, 2021
POSTS FOR "Commentary"
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Duterte’s predatory cyberwar against press freedom
Duterte’s predatory cyberwar against press freedom
These attacks underscore once again how far the Duterte administration can go in silencing the press. The recent cyberattacks are not isolated from other forms of assault on the Philippine media. These are part of Duterte’s arsenal of weapons as a “predator of press freedom,” an apt description from the Reporters Without Borders.
Balik-Tanaw | Hometown
Balik-Tanaw | Hometown
Carrying ones cross and to sacrifice is truly difficult. A prophet is not a fortune teller but somebody who has the courage and boldness to tell the truth in a particular context by announcing the good news and denouncing the evil that plagued that society.
Balik-Tanaw | Acting courageously in the time of tyranny
Balik-Tanaw | Acting courageously in the time of tyranny
ur country is stained with blood of innocent martyrs. Killings continue on a daily basis, with the perpetrators go unpunished. There is a time to mourn to honor the victims and there is a time to continue what the martyrs have started. And, as Jesus said to the little girl: “Talitha Koum!” (“Little girl, I say to you, GET UP!”), it is also time for us Christians and disciples of Christ to get up.
ICC may use Duterte’s statements against him
ICC may use Duterte’s statements against him
“Extrajudicial confessions are universally recognized as admissible in evidence against an accused provided they are voluntarily made and corroborated by evidence of the actual commission of the crime.”
Intimations of accountability
Intimations of accountability
Nothing can compensate for the loss of a husband, a father, and in some instances even a wife, a mother, and a child — or for that matter, for the years of want and deprivation inflicted by the sudden demise of a family breadwinner. Mostly unremarked except in studies by such institutions as the University of the Philippines is the humanitarian crisis that afflicts those left behind by the heads of families who, alleged to be either drug addicts or drug pushers, were systematically gunned down on the strength of what the police understood to be the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte to “kill, kill, kill.”
State forces apparently behind the cyber-attacks against PH alternative media
State forces apparently behind the cyber-attacks against PH alternative media
We are not surprised by the results of the recent digital forensic. State agents and the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) have consistently labeled us as communist fronts for pursuing journalism for the people. Still, we are angered that taxpayers’ money is being spent to bring down our website, and to deny our readers access to our reportage.
A country to win
A country to win
With regime change can come the restoration of the rule of law and the democratic space that have been eroded and restricted by the provincial despotism that has been despoiling this country and its people since 2016. The return of some measure of civility in politics and governance is another possibility. There are as well the increased chances of ending the pandemic and reviving the economy. And, most of all, is the likely recovery of the rights to free expression and press freedom on which true journalism thrives, and without which authentic change is next to impossible.
ICC probe on ‘drug war’ must be pursued
ICC probe on ‘drug war’ must be pursued
She formally requested for authority to her office to begin investigating Duterte’s war on drugs for possible crimes against humanity involving murder. She proposed to include in the investigation the pattern of drug-related EJKs observed in Davao City during Duterte’s tenure as mayor from Nov. 1, 2011 to 2016, noting that in that period, the Philippines had already ratified the Rome Statute of 2002, a treaty establishing the ICC.
With peace accord stalled, unrest besieges Colombia
With peace accord stalled, unrest besieges Colombia
Its economy struck like ours by the global pandemic, the government of Colombia, in South America, proposed a law increasing taxes. The people opposed it with a general strike, launched on April 28, impelling the government to withdraw the bill and the finance minister to resign.
Decline and fall
Decline and fall
It should be evident from its name alone that PDP-Laban was committed to the recovery and defense of the democratic institutions martial law had destroyed, and to the people’s sovereign right to decide for themselves what government can best represent them.
Balik-Tanaw | Most Precious Body and Blood
Balik-Tanaw | Most Precious Body and Blood
In sharp contrast to the biblical times, lives lost today were unholy sacrifices to the altar of greed, corruption (abuse of power), and injustices. These aren’t celebrated, but mourned. These aren’t lifted up to the skies, but buried with the heaviest burdens in our hearts.
Muog na Buo: Song of the resistance
Muog na Buo: Song of the resistance
It validates the enduring legacy of our anti-colonial heroes who sought to unite the nation by waging a war for independence.
Threat and opportunity
Threat and opportunity
That unity, however is not enough. The Nobel Prize laureate Albert Camus noted in his The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt, that the man or woman opposed to the evils of the times — the individual who says “no” to “the ignorance that claims for itself the right to kill” — at the same time also implicitly says “yes” to certain values.
Duterte airs questionableview on drug-war killings
Duterte airs questionableview on drug-war killings
It shows an utter lack of rigor in the exercise of his duties as commander-in-chief, for instance, to vet intelligence information. It also indicates how lightly, if at all, he regards his oath of office to “faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my duties as President of the Philippines, preserve and defend its Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every man and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation.”
The Holy Trinity Solemnity
The Holy Trinity Solemnity
The lectionary reading for this Sunday presents us the different complimentary facets of the persons of the Holy Trinity.
Balik-Tanaw | Wikang Naririnig
Balik-Tanaw | Wikang Naririnig
Sa paglapag ng Banal na Diwa sa mga alagad ni Hesus na magkakasama sa isang lugar, nagsimula nilang maranasan ang kapangyarihang bigay nito. Kabilang dito ay ang kapangyarihang makapagsalita sa iba’t ibang wika.
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