ADVERTISEMENT
The media should resist all commercialist trappings and not favor profit over truth-telling. Journalists and news media organizations need to brush up on the normative standards of journalism, if only to realize that bias is inherent and should not be hidden.
The hypocrites in government malign the work of organizers, humanitarian workers, and human rights defenders, vilifying and tagging them as enemies of the state and terrorists. They persecute many who truly work for the betterment of our society.
There is always the love and compassion that summon me to respond to the Others without filling them fully or arriving finally to the end.
Like the Bantayog ng mga Bayani memorial in Quezon City, dedicated to a wide segment of Martial Law martyrs from community leaders such as Dulag to fighters of the New People’s Army in resisting the Marcos dictatorship, or the 1933 Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan honoring revolutionary heroes of the Katipunan who fought for independence from Spanish rule, the Anti-Chico Dam Struggle monument represents a step foward in committing our histories of resistance to public memory in more permanent form. To demolish it would be a grave disrespect of cultural and social history at the very least.
Again, paying taxes is not bad. It is every citizen’s duty. However when taxes are enforced to exploit and abuse the already over-burdened poor, taxes become an immoral tool of exploitation. The situation becomes abusive when taxes are used as a source of power play of the Cesars” – to command allegiance and support from the people.
Politicians are experts in articulating this unscientific argument. They blame the people’s resistance for causing social ills as if the system were just and equitable before the Left conspired to destroy it. They insinuate that the people’s struggle is instigating terror. It is convenient for them to scapegoat activism instead of acknowledging their criminal liability in perpetuating a state of mass poverty.
The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed a corrupt system and culture. The pandemic did not break the system, for the system was already broken. The masses have been suffering way before the pandemic.
As a mother myself, I cannot begin to fathom how Andrea felt, and how Reina feels now. I have been struggling to find the right words. But there are, simply, no words enough to aptly describe the pain, the rage, the emptiness, and despair.
The God I know works with the farmers who work hard to keep land fertile and productive. God is with them during planting season, during harvest time, and celebrates with them, and blesses them every time the land produces a sprout, a fruit, a produce so that life may be shared, and others may live. We should thank our farmers for that.
Ilang mga Alberto Ramento na ang pinaslang ng mga iba't ibang rehimen hanggang kasalukuyan kaugnay ng di matapos na red tagging, panggigipit at karahasan ng mga nasa kapangyarihan. Hanggang sa kasalukuyan, pinagbabantaan pa rin ang mga taong simbahan na kumakalinga sa karapatang pantao, sa nagsusulong ng makatarungang kapayapaan, at pambansang kararinlan sa kapuluan.
How do we express our love for Him and keep His commandments? It is written everywhere in the Bible and still much relevant today. Love those who He loves: the poor, hungry, homeless, prisoners, persecuted, lonely, and hopeless. Have preferential option for the marginalized, disadvantaged, disenfranchised, isolated, and excluded.
The Duterte regime’s denying the public access to government information prevents the populace’s meaningful involvement in the politics and governance of this country as the essential condition to bringing about the social, economic and political changes needed to bring it to the 21st century — changes Mr. Duterte was promising during his 2016 campaign for the Presidency, and in anticipation of which he was elected by 33% of the electorate
But over the years, Duterte has attacked human rights advocacy groups as “enemies of the state,” also church leaders, priests, pastors and nuns. He even berated the Commission on Human Rights (a constitutional body) for criticizing certain policies or pronouncements of his government. He talked (confusedly or maliciously) of “detractors pass(ing) themselves off as human rights advocates while preying on the most vulnerable humans: even using children as soldiers or human shields in [armed] encounters.”
A community of readers and supporters that help us sustain our operations through microdonations for as low as $1.
Save as PDF