The real underlying cause of deaths in epidemics is the dysfunctional health care system brought about by chronic socio-economic underdevelopment characteristic of a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society victimized by imperialism, not the loss of vaccine confidence due to the “Dengvaxia scare”.
If we total the black budget allotted under the Office of the President from 2016 to 2020, that would already be P10 billion, a sum enough to finance the wages of 77,500 minimum wage workers for a year!
Dr. Claudio’s commentary, accusing his colleagues as well as students and activists of being “commies” are hardly statements to be glibly made or easily dismissed. Within the context of increasing state repression and concomitantly the erosion of academic freedom on both sides of the Pacific, the targets of Dr. Claudio’s work are put directly into the crosshairs of the Duterte and even the Trump regime. Dr. Claudio produces conditions of academic unfreedom for those he attacks.
Let me ask fellow PMAers, the generals of the AFP and PNP mentioned above, what has happened to the PMA Honor Code of NOT TO LIE, NOT TO STEAL, NOT TO CHEAT nor TOLERATE THOSE WHO DO?
The concomitant and worsening assaults (including extrajudicial killings) on fundamental human rights have subjected marginalized people to extreme physical, biological, psychological and social stress and have repeatedly been forced to be displaced from their land, homes, crops and other means of survival. Under these circumstances, infectious disease epidemics, like measles, and other serious health problems are bound to arise and worsen.
Patay na ang Contractual King pero patuloy ang legasiya ng sistemang kontraktwal sa loob ng SM. 99% ng kanilang mga manggagawa ay contractual kaya mas dapat i-expose ang kabulukan ng sistemang ito.
The more disturbing issue, however, is the ever-increasing human rights violations and extrajudicial killings of human rights activists who advocate for ordinary people and local communities opposed to large-scale mining operations.
The Supreme Court warned that data under a national ID system’s “vast reservoir of personal constitutes a covert invitation to misuse, a temptation that may be just too great for some of our authorities to resist.”
President Duterte and Mocha Uson have rather emboldened trolls and netizens alike in attacking people they disagree with by issuing expletives, insults and curses.
But, like fear, courage could be contagious. And unlike fear that disempowers, courage built on the power of truth and the unity of all in media is a force that empowers.
Boracay needs scientists, engineers, development planners, social workers, and community organizers, not the hundreds of troops and police.