By YANNI ROXAS Bulatlat.com I thought I was going to another historical film na pinatay na naman ang bida (where the protagonist was killed) and leave me sad, sour and hopeless. Had “Gomburza” the movie not won second place at the 49th Metro Manila Film Festival I would not have bothered. But curiosity got the…
For workers in Southern Tagalog, repression is as normal as resistance.
The struggle for their right to housing taught them that they have bigger fights to win.
Despite attempts to deviate himself from his predecessor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr has continued a counterinsurgency policy which resulted in gross human rights violations.
The 55-year old Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) called on its members to launch a rectification movement to recover from admitted setbacks suffered in recent years.
The readings for this last Sunday of Advent are full of “messianic expectation”. They exude a hope and trust which has endured through occupation and exile and grown stronger in persecution. It is a hope centred on the key promise of God given to David, that David’s house and his kingdom would be established forever (2 Sam.7:16). After the Exile, the people longed for another David, the shepherd boy anointed by God who became a great warrior, defeated enemies in battle and united the 12 tribes around Jerusalem. With the defeat of the Davidic dynasty the people asked where was God’s promise? We see the struggle of the community with this dilemma in the Royal Psalms. Psalm 89 begins praising God’s steadfast love and faithfulness to all generations but this trust in God is being tested as the psalmist laments “where is thy steadfast love of old, which by thy faithfulness thou did swear to David” (v49).
What a sad Christmas season this is for the peace-loving peoples of the world. Devastating wars are being waged, most notably, today, in Palestine and Ukraine. Soldiers are dying, civilians are suffering and dying too, and there seems to be no power on earth that will stop the gunfire.
Sugarcane has lost its sweetness in Batangas province. The past year has been bittersweet for sugarcane plantation workers since one of the largest sugar mills in the Philippines closed down. They are still struggling to salvage what is left of their livelihood and of the whole sugar industry in the country.
A Quezon City assistant city prosecutor dismissed the environmental case filed against activist and cultural worker Maximo Santiago and three others after they burned an effigy during the State of the Nation Address last July.
We live in difficult times. There are ongoing crisis in Israel-Palestine, and Ukraine-Russia, and emerging conflict in the South China Sea. Then there is the climate and economic crises that threaten food security. We are also faced with enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings as well as violation of rights of activists, human rights defenders, environmentalists, workers and farmers, which happen with impunity.
This is the third piece in a row I’ve written about perceivable hindrances to the smooth resumption of formal peace negotiations between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. It had been announced in early December that they had agreed to do so in Oslo, Norway, on Nov. 23.