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“The authorities cannot violently disperse it and forcefully arrest the protesters, when the said protest action is held peacefully and, now with proper observance of health protocols under the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“The human rights situation in the Philippines has now reached a level of gravity requiring a robust intervention by the UN. The Human Rights Council must do everything in its power to prevent the continuation of widespread and systematic human rights abuses against the Philippines people.”
Kalumbay described Datu Reynaldo Ayuma as being “consistently at the forefront of the struggle of the Camansi evacuees against development aggression of their ancestral domain.”
“Our call to drop all charges against Frenchie Mae and to immediately release her is now more urgent than ever.”
“They are not disobedient, they are just striving to survive.”
Fast track this to the current Duterte regime and the Filipino artists, in the mainstream or alternative circles, continue to fight for causes, even at the risk of being red-tagged and branded a “terrorist”. They have lent their names and influence and, whenever necessary, appeared in media or in crowds to fight for democracy and justice, very recently against the so-called Anti-Terrorism Bill which could be worse than martial law. In a way they have become idols of resistance, raising the awareness of their fans and encouraging them to fight for their own rights as citizens.
“In the five years that the union has existed, it has succeeded in the struggle for regularization when the workers went on strike in 2017, sorted out the union fund after the previous leadership left nothing, conducted multiple series of educational discussions to help the workers understand their rights, its leaders have studied how to best run the union in order to serve its workers, and advanced the struggle for livable wages and benefits through [Collective Bargaining Agreements].”
It’s hard to be a prophet; it is difficult to tell and live by the truth, to raise our voice and denounce what is wrong. It is more comfortable to remain at the margins in silence and pretend not to see and hear what is happening, or to let the others talk. Still, if one wants a real change in our society, a community faithful to the Gospel and more docile to the spirit, if one aspires to a newness of life, prophets are needed. Like Jeremiah, may we have the courage to say what the Lord tells us, even at the risk of life.
“It is distressing that the community of barangay San Antonio would lose somebody like Hon. Froilan Reyes, especially now when his leadership is needed during a time of great crisis brought about by COVID-19.”
“We must realize that giving the people and organizations behind them permission to gather and use our personal information means that we do pay for their services - not in cash but at the cost of our attention, privacy, and security.”
"Is this is the kind of government we will give power to in the implementation of an Anti-Terror Law?"
The situation in jail, according to transport group Piston, "gave the jeepney drivers higher risks of contracting the coronavirus disease."
"It is very alarming that the (Philippine police) continues to fail as a good example of a gender-sensitive institution.”
The challenge for American activists and organizers is to now elevate these contradictions towards the primary question of class struggle; something that hasn’t been done since the Black Panther Party of the 1960s.
Bayan Muna Rep. Eufemia Cullamat fears that with the looming passage of the anti-terror bill, more incidents of harassment and abductions might take place.
In their tens of millions, the workers, peasants and the lower middle class are hungry and angry at the Duterte regime and are eager to move against it. The professionals and entrepreneurs have been deprived of income and have fallen into debt and bankruptcy and are ready to join the toiling masses in concerted actions to protest and make demands. Even the big compradors and landlords who are not his close collaborators now consider him a plague worse than the COVID-19 virus.
The issue here goes beyond Rappler as other dominant and alternative news media organizations are also under attack. Ressa only becomes a convenient target because of her high profile. That's what she has in common with ABS-CBN which is a leading network. The chilling effect becomes clear by targeting both of them.
Various groups assailed today yet another attack against press freedom in the country, with a Manila court handing down a guilty verdict against Rappler’s CEO Maria Ressa and their former researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr.
Members of the religious community are among those who have opposed and joined the growing clamor to stop the signing into law the controversial anti-terror bill, saying this will threaten the people’s “hard won freedoms.”
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