Memory as defiance: Remembering RJ Ledesma
Death is used as a warning but memory becomes a form of defiance.
Death is used as a warning but memory becomes a form of defiance.
“Why is it that when the people demand accountability, our officials move so slowly? Now, this Supreme Court decision will only further delay our call for accountability.”
“In Southern Tagalog, farmers are already burdened by lost harvests and incomes. The people are not just struggling, they are being abandoned.”
Days ahead of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), progressive organizations under the banner of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Panay held a press conference Friday, July 25, denouncing what they called worsening economic and social conditions under the current administration.
“It is infuriating that unrepentant plunderers occupying high positions in government can maneuver and invoke bureaucratic rules and technicalities to escape punishment, even as they continue to commit serious crimes against the Filipino people,”
“These funds exist for emergencies like this. The government’s failure to release them quickly and transparently is costing lives and livelihood,”
Across the Philippines, many communities are losing their livelihoods and homes in the name of so-called development projects causing environmental destruction. With Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s presidency already at the halfway mark, the state of the Philippine environment is caught between lofty climate pledges and worsening ecological destruction.
Three years into the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the human rights situation in the Philippines is still bad.
"We must not allow impunity to trump accountability."
"If the ‘iron-clad’ alliance comes with selling out the [Philippine] economy in exchange for ‘military aid’, then that’s not really an ‘alliance’ and that’s not really ‘aid’. That’s neocolonialism.”
In a statement, Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said that the bill is “thoroughly self-serving and is a slap in the face of the tens of thousands of victims of Duterte's drug war as well as those who suffered other injustices committed under his regime.”
In the ruling, the World Court said that the climate change treaties set forth binding obligations for State parties to ensure environmental protection. Among these treaties are the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement. In the Philippines, all these legally-binding treaties are ratified, therefore, the government is responsible for failure to uphold the much needed environmental protection.
SONA ng paniningil is this year's theme of people’s state of the nation (People’s SONA) as Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is midway in his term as president. For progressive groups, the three years of his administration has not made a significant difference to the lives of the Filipino people.
Fishing families consistently rank among the poorest in the Philippines. Where meat is not accessible, gleaned shellfish and variable catches under “Others” offer a vital bridge: diverse, accessible, and nutritionally relevant, as shown in data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
“To silence a journalist is to deny the people their right to truth. We will not allow fear to win.”
As protests erupt against the construction of the separation wall, Burnat documents not just the political resistance but the emotional and personal toll it takes on his family and community. Burnat captured how resistance becomes a way of life. His brothers are arrested one by one. Children, if not killed, are unjustly detained. Protesters on the frontlines like Aldeeb suffer injuries but remain unyielding. The film showcases how villagers respond to land theft not with retreat, but with creative acts of defiance, like laying concrete structures to block the military. Even as violence escalates, the people of Bil'in adapt, protest, and persist.