“If we don’t spend enough, ordinary citizens would continue to suffer…If we don’t reverse the business closures, how could we generate jobs? The government would then have to provide aid, which is obviously not sustainable.” — Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo
Public school teachers spend for their basic protection such as alcohol, face masks, face shields and gloves. The Department of Education admitted that there is no budget allocated for the hospitalization of teachers who will be infected by the virus.
“This is an injudicious handling of the people’s coffers, seeing as how the state’s insufficient funding will further deprive millions their constitutionally granted right to accessible and quality education, while education workers will be subjected to unsafe working conditions and forced to again make up for shortages.”
While their employers benefit from social protections, they continue to expect their domestic workers to continue to serve not six but now seven days a week.
“The issue is about exercising the judicial power of compassionate intervention and equity jurisdiction to protect those least able to protect themselves.”
“Where is justice when a US soldier convicted of homicide over the killing of Jennifer Laude was granted absolute pardon while hundreds of incarcerated Filipinos languish in prisons because of fabricated and baseless charges meant to silence them from speaking against government injustices.”
Amid Covid-19’s unrelenting rampage across the world, peoples are asserting and defending their rights, and fighting against the abuses, corruption and impunity of state power. The task remains as crucial, if not more so, as surviving the pandemic.
As a Church it is essential to be in mission by following Christ with courage to stand firm and move forward in the midst of persecution and fear.
Workers have been infuriated by the callous treatment they’ve received in their workplaces. But many of them recognized that the most surefire way to get their employers to provide the protection they needed was through collective action.
Planning for future contingencies has never been any administration’s strong suit, despite the constant threat of natural and man-made disasters against the people of this country. It is not uniquely characteristic of the Duterte regime.
Safety assessments under the corporate dominated scientific milieu are grossly inadequate and oftentimes erroneous. Pre-clinical studies and clinical trials are done or sponsored by the very corporations who sell the vaccines and they do not adequately address the plausible adverse effects that cannot be detected by the corporate sponsored studies.