Sumapi ang Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap o KADAMAY sa protestang SONAgkaisa noong Lunes, Hulyo 27, upang irehistro ang anila’y militaristang tugon ng gubyernong Rodrigo Duterte sa pandemyang COVID-19 sa mahihirap na pamayanan.
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Jofelle P. Tesorio, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Aug 01 2020 10:34 AM
UTRECHT, The Netherlands – The chief peace negotiator of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Fidel Agcaoili was given a final tribute with kind words, nationalistic songs and a simple mass on Friday, July 31, the day of his cremation.
Agcaoili passed away unexpectedly on July 23. He was 75. The NDFP said, citing the doctor’s findings, the cause of his death was pulmonary arterial rupture which caused massive internal bleeding.
Jose Maria Sison, NDFP chief political consultant and a close friend of Agcaoili, was present at the wake with his wife Julie de Lima. In his tribute online, he called Agcaoili “a great Filipino patriot and communist fighter.”
Sison recalled their younger days in the 1960s when they were both active at the Student Cultural Association of the University of the Philippines, the Kabataang Makabayan (KM) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
“We advanced together in our development ideologically, politically and organizationally in pursuit of the people’s democratic revolution in the context of the world proletarian revolution,” he said.
“Ka Fidel deserves to be honored as a great Filipino patriot and outstanding communist fighter even only on the basis of what is publicly known about him,” Sison said, adding that Agcaoili, despite growing up in a privileged family, “became a revolutionary without ever boasting or feeling sorry that he had sacrificed so much for the people and the revolution.”
Agcaoili was sent abroad by his family to dissuade him from social activism but according to Sison, his friend came back in 1964 and joined the preparations to establish KM in 1964.
“He was never afraid of the tremendous odds and the risks to life, limb and liberty. He did not expect any kind of material reward for all his work and sacrifices….Even while he was a high executive of his family’s insurance company, he helped organize studies and produce publications and performed the lowly tasks that had to be undertaken in the underground in support of the mass movement and in the establishment and development of the CPP,” Sison said.
Aldo Gonzales who was with Agcaoili at their office almost every day, said he would remember him as “a true Filipino revolutionary who dedicated almost 50 years of his life to effecting socio-economic political change in Philippine society, attaining a just and lasting peace in the Philippines.”
For other friends and colleagues in The Netherlands, Agcaoli was more than a comrade but a mentor, grandfather, father, brother, uncle and confidante.
Friend and colleague at Migrante-Utrecht Jun Saturay said Agcaoili was not just involved in Filipino activist organizations in the Netherlands but very much into personal relations.
“May mga deep relationship siya sa ating mga members ng organization dito sa Utrecht. Pinapayuhan niya kapag may problema, inaalam niya kung ano ang kalagayan nila. Even iyong children, mayroon silang relationship. Mayroon silang secret handshakes. Nagkakantahan sila. Sinasaway niya kapag ayaw sumunod sa magulang. Sinasabihan niya in the most grandfatherly way,” Saturay said.
(He had deep relationships with the members of the organizations here in Utrecht. He gave pieces of advice and checked their situations. He also had special relationship with children of our colleagues. They shared secret handshakes and they sang together.)
He also recalled how Agcaoili helped their family during the time when they had no place to stay in the Netherlands, adding that all his relatives were close to him. That helped shaped their political awareness, he said.
For undocumented worker and migrants’ community organizer Satria, they lost a good soul in Agcaoili. “Alam na alam niya kung kailan mo kailangan ng paggabay at tulong kahit hindi ka humingi ng tulong sa kaniya. Ang natatandaan ko na lagi niyang sinasabi sa akin na kinakailangan laging kalmado, kinakailangan maging matiyaga lalo na kung nagbibitiw ng pag-aaral sa lipunang Pilipino.”
(He knew when you needed guidance and help even if you didn’t ask for it. He always told me to remain calm and have patience especially when you are talking about issues on Philippine society.)
Dhaizie Bongay of Migrante France said Agcaoili contributed to migrants’ education by sharing his ideologies and had the zest of engaging the youth.
Marlon Lacsamana, secretary-general of Migrante Europe said it was Agcaoili who told him that being a member of the LGBT community and an activist is something to be proud of.
“Napakalaking impact sa aking paniniwala at paninindigan ang mga napag-usapan namin ng mga panahon na iyon ni Ka Fidel kung saan sinabi niya na ang mga LGBT na katulad ko ay may puwang hindi lamang sa kilusan kundi may puwang sa lipunang Pilipino,” he said.
(Agcaoli had left an indelible mark on my beliefs and principles. He said that an LGBT like me had a place not just in movement but in the Philippine society.)
Friends know Agcaoili as a low-key person who didn’t want to be in the limelight.
“Noong nag-peace talks ng 1986, wala lang siya sa mga peryodiko, wala lang ang pangalan niya, wala lang ang atensiyon sa kanya pero isa siya sa machinery na [nagpausad] ng peace talks… Tumulong siya sa international work, tumulong siya sa relations work. Ang daming relations na na-develop niya. Mga close relations,” said fellow NDFP peace panel member Coni Ledesma.
(During the peace talks in 1986, he wasn’t on the papers but he was one of the machineries behind it. He helped with international work, relations work. He built tremendous relationships.)
Because of his activism, Agcaoli and his wife Chit were arrested in 1974 and became among political prisoners detained the longest at more than 10 years.
After his detention, he helped establish and became chairperson of the Samahan ng Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) that sought the release of all political prisoners. He also helped organize Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) in 1985 and became its executive director.
In 1988, Agcaoili left the Philippines to work at the Spanish NGO Instituto de Estudios Políticos para América Latina y Africa (IEPALA) in 1988.
He joined exploratory talks for peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Philippine government from 1989 and became the vice chairperson of the NDFP negotiating panel when the two sides adopted The Hague Joint Declaration as the framework for the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.
When Luis Jalandoni resigned as chief peace negotiator in 2017, Agcaoili took over. Between 2016 and 2017, he met with President Rodrigo Duterte as many as six times, according to Sison.
Peace talks between the government and the NDFP fell in 2017 due to disagreements, with government accusing the communist party of continuing attacks on state troops despite negotiations.
Read the original post here:
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/01/20/outpouring-of-love-grief-as-ndfps-chief-peace-negotiator-laid-to-rest
Nagtipon ang 8,000 na mamamayan sa ikalimang State of the Nation o SONA ng Pangulong Rodrigo Roa Duterte sa kahabaan ng University Avenue sa UP Diliman, Quezon City sa pamamagitan ng isang kilusang protesta na may temang “SONAgkaisa”. Naganap ito noong nakaraang Lunes, Hulyo 27.
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The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) International Office bid its final farewell to NDFP Negotiating Panel chairperson Fidel Agcaoili in a solemn ceremony at one o’clock Friday afternoon, July 31, in Utrecht, The Netherlands (8 pm Philippine time).
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The City Government of Davao is set to lift the food and medicine (FM) pass and curfew hours for Davao City starting Monday, August 3, as part of easing things for residence under the general modified community quarantine (MGCQ).
“These recommendations are for individual patients who are assessed and cleared by physicians. Simply extrapolating this to massive data is problematic,” he said.
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“Sorry, we are not just for your consumption.”
By AARON MACARAEG
Bulatlat.com
Local brand Tribu receives backlash on Twitter for “misappropriation” in using indigenous peoples groups’ names such as “Kankana-ey,” “T’boli,” and “Bagobo” among others for their footwear.
Takder, a youth and student’s organization of Kaigorotan and advocates cited a social media post by Tribu which says “How to adjust your Subanon.”
The group said indigenous peoples bear their names with “great pride and honor” and that they have been bravely defending their identity even with colonizers.
“Sorry, we are not just for your consumption,” the group said.
Since time immemorial we Indigenous Peoples have bravely defended our identity against colonizers, we bear our names with great honor and pride.
Sorry, we are not just for your consumption. pic.twitter.com/0VGNR7mTI8
— TAKDER (@takderkordi) July 29, 2020
As of the writing, Bulatlat.com sent a direct message via Instagram to Tribu for a statement but they still have not responded yet. Along with the message is to clear if they did obtain FPIC from the IPs involved in their products. (Bulatlat.com)
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“This bloodthirsty regime fetishes death and violence, and Duterte strongly batting to reimpose death penalty is not surprising but no less infuriating — it’s as if the mass murder of the poor at the hands of the police in the sham drug war or in the hands of soldiers through the counterinsurgency program aren’t forms of death penalty already, while the rich, the regime’s most gung ho allies, and human rights violators can blatantly escape accountability without even an iota of remorse for their crimes.”
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Different cause-oriented groups expressed disagreement with President Rodrigo Duterte’s proposal to revive death penalty by lethal injection for crimes specified under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Human rights group Karapatan said that it would only “institutionalize the already ongoing State-sanctioned carnage of the poor.”
Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said Duterte’s push of the measure during his annual address to the people “already speaks of the true state of the nation under Duterte: a nation suffering under the darkness of State-sponsored killings of the poor and attacks on people’s rights.”
“This bloodthirsty regime fetishes death and violence, and Duterte strongly batting to reimpose death penalty is not surprising but no less infuriating — it’s as if the mass murder of the poor at the hands of the police in the sham drug war or in the hands of soldiers through the counterinsurgency program aren’t forms of death penalty already, while the rich, the regime’s most gungho allies, and human rights violators can blatantly escape accountability without even an iota of remorse for their crimes,” Palabay said.
Justice system not for the poor
For fisherfolk group Pamalakaya, with the “current judicial system where impunity for the powerful prevails while ordinary folks are being deprived of legal due process, revival of the death penalty will mostly target the poor, not the rich and powerful criminals.”
Bayan Muna Partylist and Deputy Minority Leader Carlos Isagani Zarate also said that this will greatly impact those who cannot afford lawyers.
Zarate pointed out that studies have showed that “death penalty will not deter crimes especially in a corrupt justice system where the rich and the powerful get away with their crimes.”
“The immediate solution is systemic reforms of our justice system to eliminate corruption and delay, as well as stamp out impunity,” Zarate said.
He also added that one of the reasons for crime is poverty. Thus, he said that the most effective solution to deter crime is by lifting the people from poverty.
“If people have decent wages, and their family can eat three meals a day, have free education and health care, crime will surely go down,” Zarate said.
Leaders from Catholic and Protestant churches also expressed their opposition against the reviving of death penalty on drug-related crimes. They call on people of good will to join them in this fight.
“An attack on any human person, the image of God, is an attack on God,” they said in a statement.
“Nothing – neither human sin, nor injustice, nor evil, ‘nor anything else in creation can separate us from the saving love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.’ (Romans 8:39) This is the faith we confess, and we oppose the death penalty because it is contrary to the Christian principles of respect for human life, mercy, forgiveness and charity,” they added.
Among the signatories of the statement are Most Rev. Broderick S. Pabillo, D.D., Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Manila, Bishop Reuel Norman O. Marigza, General Secretary, National Council of Churches in the Philippines, Most Revd. Rhee M. Timbang,Obispo Maximo of Iglesia Filipina Independienteand The Rt. Rev. Rex RB Reyes, Jr., D.D. of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Philippines.
They urged Duterte, the lawmakers and the people to heed the word of God to choose life.
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