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COMMENTARY

AT GROUND LEVEL

SATUR OCAMPO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘US military presence poses nuclear peril’

Some time ago, a distinguished patriot, someone I am proud to call a friend and noble kababayan, marked his 90th birthday and showed us all that a long life may diminish certain of our powers, but only deepens wisdom and affirms the strength of experience.

Negotiated peace, not ‘all-out-war’

Throughout his first two years in Malacañang, President Marcos Jr. has stayed silent on the issue of continuing the GRP-NDFP peace talks, which his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, had resumed in 2016 and then backed away from in 2019.

‘Weaponizing’ anti-terror laws against dev’t workers

Like fishermen struggling in the waters of the open sea after the capsizing of their boats, human rights workers are crying out to be rescued from the Philippine government’s apparent determination to stop them from carry out their legitimate, and necessary, work.

BALIK-TANAW

PROMOTION OF CHURCH PEOPLE’S RESPONSE

Balik-Tanaw | Good news

I was walking with a colleague to the Surigao house we share and came to talk about her first foray into the city. A development worker, she had come from Iligan and had just been onboarded into a response team here in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Odette in 2021. Her work then must have been challenging, made even more difficult by the prevailing Covid. Being new here myself and getting a lot of help settling in, I was immediately reminded that I arrived at a better time.

Balik-Tanaw | Tubig ng buhay sa uhaw na mundo: Water to wine: A call to justice and transformation

In Jesus’ time, while water is essential, it is often unsafe to drink due to high possibility of contamination. Waterborne diseases were very common and were a major cause of death especially to the poor. Historically, wine being fermented, was a safer and more practical option, frequently diluted with water to purify it and extend its use. In our scripture reading, at Cana, there were six stone jars filled with water for purification, these were meant for ritual purposes, yet as we look beyond the narrative and fill the gaps of the story, these tapayans, or clay jars were not just religious objects but practical necessities. These are symbols of survival in a world of scarcity. If there’s no clean water and no wine, what else could there be?

Balik-Tanaw | Humility, courage and hope

The Baptism of the Lord is more than a thing to remember or a period in Jesus’ life – it is a powerful reminder to reflect on how His baptism shapes our very being. It invites us to examine our purpose as the baptized. It is challenging us to step beyond comfort , and embody a solidarity that responds to the cries of a world yearning for justice, peace, and hope.

BALIKSAYSAY

FRANCIS GEALOGO

Ang epidemya at ang mga filibustero

Subalit sa halip na maging bukas sa pagpapahayag sa aktwal na kalagayan ng bayan sa usaping pangkalusugan, binansagan pa ng mga nasa pamahalaan ang mga naglalathala ng katotohanan bilang mga filibustero at kalaban ng bayan. Hindi naging bukas sa paggamit ng mga siyentipikong pag-aaral, ginamit lamang ng mga nasa pamahalaan ang mga hakbanging despotiko at absolustimo nang hindi tumatanggap at sarado sa ibang ideya.

Mga doktor ng bayan

Sa pagsiklab ng pandemic, ang kawalan ng kakanyahan ng mga pamahalaang umasa sa pribatisasyon ang nagdala sa paglala ng krisis ng kalusugang pambayan.

BLOODRUSH

SARAH RAYMUNDO

Maduro’s bus and Venezuela’s El Caracazo

El Caracazo in 1989 and the current Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela show that resistance to imperialist plunder and mass immiseration and murder of the people through the IMF-WB and the whole neoliberal project is possible and the absolute right and duty of the people.

BLOOD RUSH | People’s war for the 21st century

In the midst of a heightened climate of impunity, this current volume locates the place of the people’s war as a revolutionary process in which alternatives are approached in terms of tactical and strategic objectives. In doing so, resistance is foregrounded as both an actual reality and a goal of people’s war taking place in two different and parallel spheres, namely, organized and legal street protest and the underground revolutionary armed struggle.

What makes The Accord* special?

Those activists taught us how to expand, how to imagine the world with compassion, a sense of mission and commitment, freely, creatively and scientifically. None of our goals end when our personal ambitions shatter. There is a bigger picture to this accord and even to the so-called student power that made it possible.

FIRST PERSON

BULATLAT CONTRIBUTORS

Freedom of expression is the people’s right to fight back

We must therefore never forget that contradiction in fighting back for freedom of expression today. Freedom of expression is not a privilege of those in power, but a weapon of the oppressed to safeguard against the abuse of power—whether economic, political, and social.

First Person | Remembering Nonie

In primitive times, when a person disappears, his tribe would presume he had been eaten by wild beasts, fallen off a cliff, captured by another tribe, or taken by the spirits. If search parties fail to locate him, the babaylan will ask the diwatas or engkantos if they have taken the missing person’s body or spirit. The necessary rituals can then be performed according to circumstances or the person’s social status.

Buryong

Malaking sanhi ng pagkaburyong ay ang mabagal na takbo ng kaso sa bansa na may kinalaman sa bulok na hustisya. Kadalasan naghihintay ng anim na buwan para sa paglilitis at lagi itong hindi natutuloy. Marami sa mga nakakulong ay inosente at sinampahan ng gawa-gawang kaso subalit walang sapat na kakayanan para makakuha ng tulong ligal.

KALIBUTAN

KALIKASAN-PEOPLE’S NETWORK FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

From fishing villages to Lumad sanctuaries, a war against nature continues to be waged

As with the Haran standoff and the tensions in Taliptip, state security forces were linked to at least 57 percent of the victims we recorded. It must be thus questioned why the military and other state security forces are zeroing in on these areas, with crosshairs trained at defenders. Are these really peace and order operations, or deadly investment guarantees?

The state of the Philippine environment*

"...[t]hese potentials are being challenged by different environmentally destructive projects and interventions and intensified extraction of natural and mineral resources. Our sovereignty over our natural resources is being bastardized. "

KONTEKSTO

DANILO ARAO

Konteksto | Bakasyon

Napakasaya nila, hindi ba? Pero may hangganan ang kasamaan dahil mananaig pa rin ang katarungan. Makukulong ang mga dapat makulong. Mananagot ang mga dapat managot.

Konteksto | Baha

Sadyang walang maniniwala sa anumang palusot habang nagbabasa, nanonood o nakikinig ng balita mula sa bubong ng bahay at naghihintay na iligtas sa matinding pagbaha. Normal ang pagsuspetsahang kinurakot ang kaban ng bayan kung halatang tumataba ang bulsa ng mga nasa kapangyarihan.

Konteksto | Imburnal

Sa bawat pabirong post na kailangan nang maghanap ng imburnal para magkapera, nalalantad ang karumal-dumal na sitwasyon ng mahihirap na napagkakaitan ng batayang serbisyo tulad ng libreng pabahay.

LAB NOTES

Advocates of Science and Technology for the People

Lab Notes | Would granular lockdowns in Metro Manila work in the face of a Delta surge?

Assuming that the areas under granular lockdown are identified as potential sources of infection, what interventions are being done to ensure the risk of transmission is mitigated or even bring down infections? How are tracing and testing protocols being implemented? In the case of indoor establishments and workplaces, what engineering and administrative controls are in place? In the context of airborne transmission of COVID-19, disinfections are simply not enough.

Lab Notes | DENR is tone deaf to the plight of fisherfolk in Cavite

The fisherfolk themselves fear that they will lose their livelihood. Why is DENR invalidating this concern? Reclaiming the coasts of Cavite to make way for big business will involve not only the demolition of illegal structures but even those owned by licensed owners. Eventually, the fisherfolk will be at the disadvantage.

OPINION

BULATLAT EDITORS

Tinig Migrante | Not all migrant workers

For many Filipino migrant workers abroad, advancements in technology have been able to provide comfort as they navigate the long and painful separation from their children, spouses, and parents back in the Philippines. They can check if their children have done their homework, watch their graduation ceremony live, virtually join a family reunion or birthday celebration, or share a prayer with their ailing mother or father. Smartphones, the internet and social media have become essential tools in their lives as migrants. For most Filipino migrants, visits back to their home provinces are expensive, and these are not even possible for many undocumented OFWs.

ON THE FRINGES

BULATLAT STAFF

#Bulatlat20| From fashion to passion

It was then that I knew that alternative news agencies like Bulatlat are instrumental in speaking truth to power. Without the shackles of corporate interest that filters and distorts news agenda, independent media is what is grounds us and directs us to reality.

My first ever out-of-town coverage

More than the success of growing vegetables and crops, there is a bigger fight that Pandi women and the urban poor community in Bulacan are fighting for. They continue to struggle against discrimination and harassment from state agents and for basic human rights, decency and respect.

We cried a River

As a mother myself, I cannot begin to fathom how Andrea felt, and how Reina feels now. I have been struggling to find the right words. But there are, simply, no words enough to aptly describe the pain, the rage, the emptiness, and despair.

QUESTION EVERYTHING

MONG PALATINO

Reflections after a prison visit

Given the constraints they face, political prisoners deserve our utmost respect for choosing defiance instead of compromise and collaboration with the class enemy. They provide a dignified example of how to live a life devoted to the cause of fighting with the oppressed. Their activism is demonized and criminalized by those who see no evil in the obscene hoarding of the nation’s wealth by the elite and the exploitation of the poor and powerless by those in power.

Relentless resistance against APEC

The "shutdown APEC" protests in San Francisco, California gathered more than a thousand people who shared testimonies about how APEC impoverished a generation, displaced Indigenous peoples, and undermined the rights of workers.

ROOT ACCESS

COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS UNION

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