Justin Umali would like you to think that he is not the corniest person in the room. A full-time activist from Southern Tagalog, he writes stories highlighting local and sectoral issues and community struggles. His hobbies include sending drafts at 2 a.m. and drinking too much coffee.
Justin Umali would like you to think that he is not the corniest person in the room. A full-time activist from Southern Tagalog, he writes stories highlighting local and sectoral issues and community struggles. His hobbies include sending drafts at 2 a.m. and drinking too much coffee.
PAMANTIK-KMU has stated before that the Duterte administration is specifically targeting labor activists and unionists. These attacks, the group claims, intensified since the start of lockdown due to COVID-19 on March 17, 2020.
“How can [the judiciary] distance themselves [from the police action] if they themselves signed the documents used to make the operations seem legitimate?” - Defend Southern Tagalog
Manny Asuncion was the very definition of an organizer: patient with the masses, always willing to serve the people, and filled with righteous anger against injustice.
“Civilians must be treated humanely in all circumstances. They must be protected against all forms of violence and degrading treatment including murder and torture.”
The stories in Sitio Compra and Sitio Buntog share many sad parallels. They are both stories of land-use conversion and violence against the nation’s dwindling agricultural communities. While peasants clamor for land reform, the Philippine government has deemed land-use conversion by large corporations as an acceptable substitute.
“The only thing we can pass on to our children is our land. We already lost everything else. We have nothing left to lose. Why should we be afraid?”
“Although Vilma Salabao’s remains have been released, this does not absolve the AFP and PNP’s barbarity.”
Farmers in Buntog have been struggling for decades to assert their rights to the land, which they and their ancestors have lived in since 1911.
“Is [Año] justifying the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] and PNP’s [Philippine National Police] massacre of five farm workers and caretakers? The mutilated genitals and broken fingers of Jhonatan and Niño Alberga? Is he justifying how the PNP Baras and the AFP’s 2nd Infantry Division are fermenting Vilma Salabao’s remains and continued refusal to turn them over to her family after three weeks, seven requests, and superficial requirements?” the group asked.
"...We are seeing yet again this pattern of non-observance to existing laws and inhumane treatment towards the accused.”
Is conservatism a legitimate ideology? Yes. At its most benign, it aims to maintain the status quo and works for the benefit of the ruling class. At its worst, it supports fascism and actively works against the masses.
“We continue to condemn the AFP-PNP’s modus operandi of hostaging remains and burying under lies the truth about what really happened to these five civilians,” Karapatan ST said.
“This is a big victory for us because we were able to defend our rights to the land that our families have owned for generations.”
“Although it is so close to Christmas, [202nd Infantry Bridgade commander] Alex Rillera is still in the business of stealing corpses.”
Karapatan ST is calling for the release of all remains to give them “justice and a decent burial, in accordance with the international humanitarian law.”
“Contrary to the stereotype of a youth activist, she was never late to meetings. And what she brought to these meetings! She had the tiniest voice, yet her words had weight.”
This does not change the fact that being added to Duterte’s narco list has become like a death sentence: seven of the 24 murdered mayors and vice-mayors had been implicated in the list before they were killed by unknown assailants.
Armando Buisan was a copra farmer and a resident of sitio Luyahan, barangay Magsaysay, General Luna, Quezon. He fought for the rights of coconut farmers in the community for almost three decades and was a well-known leader.
When you are “free” to choose between which business you give your money to so you can survive and work tomorrow for another one, you are not free. You are trapped in an endless hell for the benefit of these few businesses.
Advocacy group Pilgrims for Peace declared that the state’s penchant for red and terror-tagging “not only further exacerbates the human rights crisis in the Philippines, but it worrisomely undermines peace efforts.”
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