“Thousands were reported to have searched for alternative evacuation sites or forced to settle in unsafe sites, as designated evacuation centers were overflowing. Some declared evacuation centers were actually disaster-prone areas, and initial reports reveal how an evacuation center was even destroyed by Ruby’s violent winds in Eastern Samar province.”
Three indigenous women who joined the Manilakbayan ng Mindanao 2014 are among the many who demand peace in their ancestral lands beleaguered by militarization and development aggression.
“The soldiers fired their guns inside the church looking for the alleged NPA. They used children as human shields. So we decided to flee from the village. We thought, if they could go berserk even without being in an actual encounter, what more if they find their enemies?” By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL MANILA –…
“Sometimes, the fear creeps in. But I know that nothing will happen if I back out from our struggle. We have to fight so that we will have food on our table.” By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL Bulatlat.com MANILA – “No one would fight for our rights but us,” said Eufemia Cullamat, 54, a Manobo…
“We told them that it is stated in the law and international law that soldiers are not allowed to camp within 100 meters from school. When we asserted this, they said ‘Ah, you are an NPA.’ And we would say, no, we are just fighting for what is right.” By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL Bulatlat.com…
Vilma Yecyec has been a health worker and organizer for the past 30 years. She has also been targeted by the military for that long.
By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld The House Committee on Public Information has approved the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill which consolidates the provisions of several other bills proposed by congressmen, Malacañang, and the Right to Know Right Now coalition of nongovernment organizations and journalists’ and media advocacy organizations. But not everyone’s breaking…
By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star The American people ought to realize — and critically respond to — the dangers involved in two directions of national-security policy that their government is pursuing: 1) It is escalating the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (while extending its war…
We cannot settle for a law that will make truth telling even more difficult: a bad law is worse than no law at all.
“Not only have we been left for dead by the government’s criminal neglect after supertyphoons, we also suffer from the violence of the military – and for what? For practicing bayanihan (mutual aid) and demanding social justice for disaster survivors?” – People Surge
See also: A victim of rights violation, then of typhoon and gov’t neglect
It is bad enough that her husband was brutally murdered allegedly by soldiers while tending his farm, and her efforts to seek justice for his killing resulted in harassments. She was forced to leave for Leyte, where her home was later destroyed by supertyphoon Yolanda.