President Rodrigo Duterte will deliver his fifth State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 27. Bulatlat examines Duterte’s policies on the economy and foreign policy, his COVID-19 response and track record on human rights and the attacks on press freedom and expression since the lockdown.
Looking at history, one can say that state abandonment is very much the official disposition on which the labor export system is hinged. The Philippine government is fundamentally inclined to function simply as what sociologist Robyn Rodriguez calls a “labor brokerage state,” an institutional apparatus that facilitates Filipinos’ outward labor traffic.
With the cases increasing, concerned government agencies are swamped with backlogs, particularly on validating COVID-19 cases and an overwhelmed public health system.
If we do not fight back, no one will be left to fight for us and the future generations. If we do not push back, the world that sustain our very lives will be pushed to the brink by tyrants and demagogues like Duterte.
In their petition, church leaders assailed that the vagueness of the Republic Act No. 11479 or the Anti-Terror Act of 2020 will expose them to “credible threat of prosecution” for their ministries and advocacies.
Ni JOI BARRIOS Una kang lagi kung bumati sa tuwing may nagdiriwang ng kaarawan. Anong karangalan, na iyong mapahalagahan ang bawat isa sa amin, na hirap mapantayan ang iyong sakripisyo, ang buong buhay na inihandog sa bayan. Ama kang kinilala ng bawat kasama pagkat ngayon ay panahon na kailangan ng huwaran. Bayani ng bayan, hayaan…
“Hence, one’s acts may constitute terrorism when the law’s implementors adjudge them to be so. One does not know what acts constitute disobedience of the law. One does not know when and why she or he had become a terrorist.”
“Ka Fidel V. Agcaoili, my counterpart in the peace table in our efforts to try to end the decades-long armed conflict with the CPP-NPA (New People’s Army)-NDF, was a man of honor and conviction.” — government negotiator Silvestre Bello III
“According to the doctor, the cause of his death was pulmonary arterial rupture which caused massive internal bleeding. It was not Covid 19 related.”
As COVID-19 wipes out whatever is left of the limited opportunities for Filipinos to earn a living, the Duterte administration’s lacking response, combined with an oppressive political environment, creates conditions for a perfect storm of social unrest.
Updated July 23, 9:16 p.m. By ALYSSA MAE CLARIN Bulatlat.com MANILA— Journalists, artists, and free expression advocates filed the 14th petition today, July 23, before the Supreme Court against RA 114979, or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. Joined by almost 40 individuals from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the groups filed a petition for Certiorari and…