Michael Punongbayan – The Philippine Star, March 22, 2022
MANILA, Philippines — Forty-three percent or an estimated 10.7 million Filipinos believe they are poor, a 2021 Fourth Quarter survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.
Results of the nationwide poll conducted from Dec. 12 to 16, 2021 and released yesterday said 39 percent rated themselves as borderline poor.
The SWS survey, covering a total of 1,440 respondents, showed that only 19 percent of Filipino families considered themselves as not poor.
In the previous survey conducted in September 2021, 45 percent or an estimated 11.4 million Filipino families felt poor, while 34 percent felt borderline poor and 21 percent rated themselves as not poor.
SWS said the two-point decline in self-rated poor families in the fourth quarter of 2021 was due to decreases in Mindanao and Metro Manila combined with slight increases in the Visayas and balance Luzon.
“Compared to September 2021, Self-Rated Poor fell in Mindanao from 58 percent to 43 percent and in Metro Manila from 34 percent to 25 percent. However, it rose slightly in the Visayas from 54 percent to 59 percent, and in Balance Luzon from 38 percent to 41 percent.
“On the other hand, Borderline Poor rose in Metro Manila from 30 percent to 47 percent and in Mindanao from 34 percent to 48 percent. It rose slightly in Balance Luzon from 32 percent to 34 percent but fell in the Visayas from 42 percent to 33 percent.”
Compared to September 2021, SWS said families rating themselves as not poor fell in Metro Manila from 37 percent to 28 percent as in the case of balance Luzon that likewise fell from 30 percent to 25 percent.
Survey results showed that those rating themselves as not poor rose slightly in the Visayas from four to eight percent, while it hardly changed in Mindanao from eight to nine percent.
The SWS polls further showed that 31 percent of Filipino families feel food-poor while 44 percent feel borderline food-poor and 24 percent feel they are not food-poor.
Comparing the latest data to the September 2021 survey where 30 percent felt food-poor, 44 percent felt borderline food-poor and 26 percent not food-poor, the estimated number of self-rated food poor families rose to 7.9 million in December 2021, from 7.5 million in September 2021.
The latest SWS survey results likewise showed that 6.9 percent or 1.7 million Filipino families who considered themselves as poor are “newly poor” while 1.1 million were usually poor and 7.8 million always poor.
MANILA, Philippines — For linking presidential candidate and Vice President Leni Robredo with the communist movement, three separate complaints have been filed on Wednesday against Lorraine Badoy, one of the spokespersons of the government’s National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), before the Office of the Ombudsman, seeking her preventive suspension from office.
The complainants, composed of 26 rights activists, teachers, youth leaders and concerned citizens led by their lawyers Antonio La Viña and Rico Domingo, trooped to the Office of the Ombudsman filing the complaints alleging that Badoy, an undersecretary for the Presidential Communications Operations Office, committed multiple violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and Ethical Standards of Public Officials and Employees over her Red-tagging of the vice president.
The complaints stemmed from Badoy’s series of social media posts insinuating that the vice president has received an “endorsement” from the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed and political wings—the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front.
Badoy, a staunch critic of the Left, then accused Robredo of being “in alliance” with the communist movement in the country.
Robredo had already denied the allegations hurled by Badoy.
The first complaint was filed by seven personalities and among them were former Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino, journalist Pocholo Concepcion and Delfin Castro Jr., the elder brother of the arrested Dr. Natividad Castro, who was also “Red-tagged” by Badoy.
The second complaint was lodged by teachers Vladimer Quetua and Ophelia Tabacon while the third one was from a group of students.
They are all asking Ombudsman Samuel Martires to have Badoy investigated for her actions and determine the appropriate charges against her, and to serve preventive suspension against her.
At a news conference in Quezon City after the filing of complaints, La Viña said this was “only the first” of the sets of complaints they have filed.
“There will be other personalities also…but we can’t reveal their names now,” he told reporters.
MANILA, Philippines — Nearly three decades after migrant worker Flor Contemplacion was executed in 1995, groups said overseas Filipino workers are still treated as commodities and do not get enough protection or assistance from the government.
Contemplacion, executed in Singapore on a murder conviction, drew attention to the plight of OFWs and groups who marked her death said the Migrant Workers Act was passed “as an attempt to appease the people’s widespread anger” over her death.
The law regulates overseas employment and penalizes illegal recruitment and also commits the state to deploying Filipinos “only in countries where the rights of Filipino migrant workers are protected” through existing labor laws and international agreements and conventions that protect migrant workers.
But, Migrante Philippines chair Arman Hernando said at a protest on Thursday, migrant workers face similar conditions to what Contemplacion did 27 years ago.
“Laganap pa rin ang pang-aalipin, ang pang-aabuso, at pagmamaltrato sa kanila habang nagtatrabaho, ang diskriminasyon, ang mababang pagtrato bilang tao ay araw-araw nilang dinadanas duon sa ibayong dagat,” he said.
(They are still treated like slaves and face abuse and maltreatment while working. They face discrimination and low status while working abroad)
Migrante International chairperson Joanna Concepcion said that government policies continue to force many Filipinos to work abroad where, she said, they are neglected when seeking assistance from government.
They said the labor export policy that began in the 1970s has continued and “perpetuate(s) the systematic forced migration and separation of millions of Filipino families.”
Department of Migrant Workers
The Philippines has created a Department of Migrant Workers meant to implement programs and policies to address the needs of OFWs and to make sure their rights are protected, but, even in debates in Congress, fears were raised that this would further institutionalize sending workers abroad for remittances that help boost the Philippine economy.
Enacted on Dec. 30, 2021, President Rodrigo Duterte said that with the signing of the law, “we honor not only the exceptional love of country of Dr. Jose Rizal, but also the patriotism, excellence, and courage of our modern-day heroes including overseas Filipinos.”
Abdullah Derupong Mama-o, former presidential adviser on OFWs, has been appointed the fledgling agency’s first secretary.
Cash sent home by Filipino migrants went up for the 11th straight month in January as the global economy continued to recover. Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed remittances grew 2.5% to $2.668 billion in January this year from $2.603 billion in the same period last year.
Companies, such as those in the property sector, have seen positive or stable demand for products and services as demand was driven by the OFW market.
Although foreign remittances have shown signs of recovery, Migrante International said thousands of migrant Filipino workers are still waiting for financial and medical aid, shelter and repatriation assistance.
“With the historic oil price hikes and rise in the prices of basic goods in the past two weeks, the hardships that millions of Filipino families are already facing as a result of the pandemic will further intensify and cause conditions for Filipinos to leave the country en masse,” Migrante International said in a statement.
The groups called on government to help local industries develop and to give farmers their own land to till so Filipinos will have fewer reasons to seek better opportunities abroad.
Abuses continue, migrant workers’ group says
Migrante International’s Concepcion said Filipino migrant workers do not get adequate protection and many are victims of human trafficking and of abuse in their destination countries.
Gabriela Philippines Secretary General Joms Salvador noted that there were 5,000 cases documented in 2020 of women migrant workers experiencing abuse abroad. She said that cases are likely underreported since victims may not feel confident that the government could do anything for them from so far away.
MIGRANTE Philippines, GABRIELA, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Bayan Muna, and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan organized the Thursday protest rally.
Protesters held several posters of overseas Filipino workers. Among the placards was a photo of Mary Jane Veloso, whose execution on a drug smuggling case has been stayed.
Migrante International earlier called on Duterte to help Veloso testify to put an end to victims of international drug recruiters and human traffickers.
Protesters also called for justice for Grace Santos, a domestic worker who died in the United Arab Emirates who died of abuse in 2021 and for Mary Jean Alberto — who mysteriously died by suicide in 2019 — and Joanna Demafelis, the OFW found dead inside a freezer in Kuwait in 2018.
There was a photo of Constancia Dayag, an overseas domestic worker in Kuwait who died in 2019 after various contusions and hematoma. Previous reports showed that there were indications Dayag was sexually abused before she died.
Jakatia Pawa, who was also a domestic worker in Kuwait, was executed in 2017, 10 years after she was accused of killing her employers’ daughter. Pawa had pleaded innocence and DNA evidence on the murder weapon used reportedly did not match hers.
‘Still no justice’
“Dalawampu’t-pitong taon na ang nakalipas, hanggang ngayon, walang naging hustisya para kay Flor, at higit sa lahat, hindi lang siya ang huling Pilipinong namatay sa kamay ng mga dayuhan dahil sa kanilang desperasyon para mabuhay,” Hernando said.
(Twenty-seven years have passed, but, until now, there has yet to be justice for Flor, and, most of all, other Filipinos have also since died at the hands of foreigners [and they were there] because of their desperation to make a living.)
The group marched from Ever Gotesco Cinema along Recto Avenue in Manila but police with shields and yantok sticks blocked their approach to the Mendiola Bridge, which is a stone’s throw away from the presidential palace.
This year marks the 36th Anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution, a historical uprising of the masses who ousted the late Ferdinand Marcos’ longstanding dictatorship and restored democracy to the Filipino people. On February 25, 1986, days after Marcos’ controversial win during the 1986 Snap Election, millions of Filipinos–including farmers, labourers, youth activists, journalists, and human rights advocates–gathered in the streets of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue or EDSA, in Metro Manila, to overthrow Marcos’ 20-year oppressive regime.
This monumental event gave the masses hope in regaining their stolen rights and freedom.
Filipinos have fought for years and are still fighting for their freedom after the EDSA Revolution. But four decades later, we are under another threat of a resurgence of tyranny and fascism when the former and current ruling dictators’ children seek the two highest positions in the Philippine government. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Ferdinand Marcos’ son, is attempting to restore their family dynasty by running for the presidential race alongside the current president, Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte, as his vice-president for the upcoming May 2022 Philippine Elections.
With the current socio-political climate in the Philippines–with cronyism, poverty and injustice–the People Power Revolution in 1986 is far from being fulfilled.
Marcos dictatorship: poverty, forced migration and repression
Ferdinand Marcos won the presidential elections in 1965. During his second term in 1970 the economy was on its path to decline, from foreign debts accumulated due to infrastructures built upon the backs of underpaid labourers to the government’s failure to address the rising problems of poverty due to lack of jobs.
According to the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines, Marcos was only allowed to be in the presidential seat until 1972. But before his term ended, he issued Proclamation No. 1081 giving him the power to declare Martial Law that lasted for 14 years. Under this dictatorship, Marcos took advantage of Filipinos economically, and socially through numerous human rights abuses.
The Marcoses amassed an insurmountable amount of wealth under the guise of social service programs and public infrastructure that benefited their pockets. At the same time, unemployment and poverty reached historic peaks. In response, the Marcos administration developed a systematized policy in the mid-70s that regulated the outflow of labour migration, exporting Filipino workers. Under Marcos, the inflation rate reached 50.3% in 1984, and the Philippines hit its worst recession on record, with our foreign debt reaching $28.3 Billion in 1986.
Aside from the accumulated ill-gotten wealth under fascist dictatorial rule, at least a hundred thousand Filipinos were victimized by human rights abuses including surveillance, torture and extrajudicial killings. Years of social injustice, extra-judicial killings, repression of freedom, corruption, and government incompetence united the masses to topple the abusive regime. But up until today, the Marcoses have continued to deny and refuse to acknowledge their crimes, and their victims still have not received justice.
Scattering of Filipinos across the world
When commodification of labour migration was institutionalized to alleviate the debt crisis during the Marcos regime, Filipino families were again faced with new challenges. Working and seeking a living abroad came with precarity, discrimination, exploitation, and hardships of living transnationally, where Filipinos abroad are placed in such liminal spaces.
Filipino mass migration was undeniably part of the historical context that is tied to neocolonial conditions when the Marcoses promoted forced migration. Today, Filipinos are considered to be the Philippines’ top export due to the fact that at least 10 million Filipinos are living abroad, which was continued further by other presidents after Marcos.
It is no different under the Duterte regime. Forced migration proceeds are an essential contribution to the Philippines’ economy: last year’s remittances reached $31.4B (USD), which yet again proves that this is a primary component to maintain the Philippines’ global workforce. Today, another Marcos vying for power means continued reliance on commodified labour and family separation, a phenomenon started by Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship.
Re-writing history to reclaim power
Five years after the Marcoses left for exile in Hawaii, the family returned to the Philippines, where they slowly regained their political power using their ill-gotten wealth. The family faced no consequences despite their crimes against the Filipino people. Instead, after their exile, Imelda and her children Imee and Marcos Jr. returned to politics. In 1992, Imelda Marcos ran for president, claiming that “this nation will be great again,”. But there was no such thing as a “golden era” as the Marcoses only brought grievances to the Filipino masses. That same year, their son, Bongbong Marcos, won as congressman for the Second District of Ilocos Norte, the family’s home court.
In the following years, the Marcoses proceeded to infiltrate local and national government positions; at the same time, they used this as an opportunity to rehabilitate their image. The Marcoses took advantage of Filipinos by erasing from Philippine History textbooks discussion of Martial law and their heinous crimes. Over the past few years, the family has propagated deception through traditional and digital media, dismissing accounts of their human rights violations and ill-gotten wealth.
The threat of a Marcos-Duterte tandem
The struggle of the Filipino masses against oppression persists as the emergence of authoritarian figures did not end after Martial law. Filipinos still live in poverty, and families are being torn apart due to the lack of employment opportunities. Farmers do not have ownership of the land they till, and countless human rights violations. Corrupt officials are still in positions of power.
As we anticipate the final months of Duterte’s presidency, it is undeniable that the strongman approach exhibited by his reactionary regime was derived from Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship under the guise of strong leadership and discipline. When Duterte took his position of power in 2016, he emulated Marcos’ autocratic leadership style. It has taken in new forms of rampant arrests, institutionalized efforts to silence dissent, heightened militarization in rural communities, red-tagging of activists and civilians and media repression.
The battle for democracy and freedom continues as the Marcos-Duterte tandem runs for the president and vice-president positions in the forthcoming 2022 Philippine Elections. Let’s not forget the atrocities that fell upon the Filipino people during the time of their fathers. If they win, they will continue the reign of political dynasties and restore dictatorship.
Never Again, Never Forget
It is undeniable that the People Power is celebrated for its achievement of putting an end to a 14-year dictatorship, but what it failed to do long-term was to fulfill its potential where the oppressed class gets rid of the ruling class. When the Marcoses fled, post-People Power remained to be ruled by the elites, and neoliberal policies continued to control the Philippine economy whereas ordinary Filipinos were left to plaster the economic holes from the stolen wealth.
The annual commemoration of the EDSA People Power Revolution of 1986 was just the beginning of the uprising of the masses against fascist and tyrannical regimes. We say never again to being oppressed and never forget our oppressors. May the achievements of the EDSA Revolution serve as a memory where resistance was a driving force for Filipinos to propel history on the peoples’ side.
As Filipinos in the diaspora, we carry the history and the struggle of our people back home. We must use this to remember the atrocities that happened in the past, what was achieved and what was not, and learn the legacy of People Power as we strive to address the roots of our struggles and further achieve the fundamental change by fulfilling the unfinished promises from the revolution.
After suffering from 14 years of tyranny, Filipinos will not allow the dictator’s son to restore their dynasty in the administration. As long as injustices continue to exist, the masses will always rise up to resist and to fight back. ###
Understanding that fake news is the professional product of advertising and PR strategists means we need to challenge the broader system that has not only normalized political deception but made it financially rewarding.
While the Philippine public’s moral panics about fake news focus on notorious celebrity influencers such as Mocha Uson and their avid followers – derogatorily dubbed as “troll armies” – our latest research funded by the British Council reveals that the real chief architects of disinformation wear respectable faces as leaders in the ad and PR industry, hiding in plain sight while sidestepping accountability.
In a 12-month project conducted by researchers in the University of Massachusetts, University of Leeds and De La Salle University Philippines, we conducted in-depth interviews and online observation with operators of fake Facebook and Twitter accounts, and the strategists who provide them the detailed scripts and schedules to follow.
We gained unprecedented access to the digital underground, with informants supplying us with passwords of fake accounts used to seed divisive memes and revisionist history narratives in the lead-up to the 2016 Philippine elections up to this day.
We found that disinformation production is a professionalized enterprise: hierarchical in its organization, strategic in its outlook and expertise, and exploitative in its morality and ethics.
Our report, “Architects of Networked Disinformation: Behind the Scenes of Troll Accounts and Fake News Production in the Philippines”, thus argues that the problem of fake news and disinformation production goes much deeper than exceptional, individual villains. Addressing the problem means challenging the system that has not only normalized political deception, but made it financially rewarding – especially for people at the top.
Ad and PR strategists as chief architects
Occupying the top level of the networked disinformation hierarchy, ad and PR executives play the role of high-level digital strategists. They hold leadership roles in “boutique agencies”, handling a portfolio of corporate brands while freelancing for political clients on the side.
Motivated by the challenge of proving their clout in a new political and professional arena, “chief disinformation architects” use professional tools of the trade to fulfill their political clients’ needs. With their track record for launching Facebook business pages, trending hashtag campaigns worldwide, and building engaged communities for household brands, telcos or celebrities, tried-and-tested industry techniques of spin and reputation-building acquire new power and momentum in their hands – and these skills are for sale.
To quote one of the strategists we interviewed: “The only difference is that you’re a high-class prostitute in advertising, but in political marketing you’re a low-class prostitute.”
“Brand bibles” and “campaign objectives” in hand, chief architects of disinformation then assemble teams of anonymous digital influencers and fake account operators, on whom they rely heavily to execute their disinformation designs on social media.
Anonymous digital influencers gaming trending topics
Bridging the gap from strategy to the streets, anonymous digital influencers usually operate one or more Facebook pages or Twitter feeds that have anywhere from 50,000 to two million followers.
Their purpose: to hack attention with a specific brand of humor, widely appealing “inspirational” quotes, or astute knowledge of pop culture – and slip in the occasional undisclosed paid post into their feed. They are crucial agents who amplify and reinforce the core communication messages set by the high-profile bloggers and influencers we refer to as “key opinion leaders” in our report.
Hiding behind colorful social media personas, anonymous digital influencers have their fingers on the public pulse, from social media behaviors to political sentiments. Translating campaign strategies into shareable content, they post content for or against particular politicians, often anchored on a hashtag set by the chief architects. They use these to create viral Facebook posts, game Twitter trending rankings, and influence the way mainstream media covers a story.
They work part-time and per project, alongside day jobs in IT, corporate marketing, or online community management for celebrities’ fan clubs. They are the Philippines’ precarious, aspirational middle-class, taking on freelance digital work to achieve a certain kind of lifestyle. They are an organized, skilled, and digitally savvy labor force, or as one chief strategist describes them: “a stockpile of digital weapons” that the Philippines isn’t aware of.
Fake account operators creating illusions of engagement
At the bottom of the hierarchy, community-level fake account operators do what we call script-based disinformation work – the grunt work. Fake accounts post pre-made content on schedule and actively like and share posts to meet a daily quota. More importantly, they create the illusion of engagement – a bandwagon effect that affirms and amplifies the key messages of a political campaign, and encourages real people (i.e., unpaid grassroots supporters and political fans) to openly express their support for a particular politician.
Most of the fake account operators we met were in it for the financial rewards – freelancers paid on a daily basis for hitting their quota of social media activity, or who worked in “call-center” type arrangements in the politician’s hometown. Others were junior employees of politicians’ own administrative staff, assigned to operate fake accounts off hours – work that they did not expect and were not paid extra for.
Understanding and challenging the system
Understanding that fake news is the outcome of a professional and hierarchical work structure rooted in the promotional industries of advertising and PR tells us that we need to be more creative and collaborative in addressing our current toxic climate of information pollution.
While media and civil society initiatives to blacklist fake news websites, expose fake accounts, and fact-check the divisive celebrity influencers may be well-meaning, they do not treat the underlying causes of the problem.
It’s an open industry secret that ad and PR executives take on political sideline jobs. How can their industry peers hold them accountable for the impact of their actions? The development of a self-regulatory commission that requires disclosure of political consultancies is a step towards encouraging the traceability and accountability of these digital campaigns within the ad and PR industry.
New national campaign finance legislation – what we call a Political Campaign Transparency Act – to finally get a clear picture of what politicians spend on digital campaigning is what we strongly recommend. During elections for example, politicians are required to disclose campaign spends on traditional media like TV and radio, but not for online and social media. The public has the right to know the quantity and quality of politicians’ television and radio advertising materials but also the viral videos, trending hashtags, and Facebook advertisements they purchase.
We encourage journalists, civil society leaders, and academics to go beyond selectively shaming notorious influencers and exposing troll accounts while conferring hero status on others.
Beyond high-profile targets, we need to collaborate toward solving the bigger problem at hand: “paid troll” work is an offer that has simply become too good to refuse. While addressing the top of the fake news production hierarchy, we also need to look out for the precarious creative workers who might sign up for this kind of morally questionable work, by creating industry sanctions and safety nets that prevent them from slipping into the digital underground.
To quote one of the “chief architects” that we interviewed: “Every time you see a comment, a post, and everything else, don’t just see a screen. There’s someone warm behind that screen, who’s looking for empathy, who’s looking for a solution, for understanding.”
We hope to have helped open a discussion by attempting to understand the people behind the screen: who they are, how they operate, what motivates them, and what affects the content and narratives they spread. Now, we pass the challenge on to the Filipino public – because the stories they shape may become our own. – Rappler.com
Jonathan Corpus Ong is Associate Professor in Global Digital Media at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (USA). He is the Convenor of the Newton Tech4Dev Network and author of the book The Poverty of Television: Mediating Suffering in Class-Divided Philippines (2015). Jason Cabañes is Lecturer in International Communication at the University of Leeds (UK). As part of the British Council funded Newton Tech4Dev Network, he co-leads the digital labor research stream.
Remains of slain Lumad teacher and activist were brought to Cebu City a week after the military announced his death in Davao de Oro
BUKIDNON, Philippines – Napoleon Booc burst into tears as he paid tribute to his son Chad during the last day of the young activist’s wake in Davao City before the body was flown back to Cebu City.
Chad’s remains were brought to Cebu on Friday, March 4, a week after his death was announced by the military in Davao de Oro province.
It was in Cebu where his mother Jessica and youngest sibling Nikki saw his body for the first time since his violent death.
The day also marked the first time that a Mass was officiated in Chad’s honor.
“His death did not feel real until we finally saw him in a casket,” said Nikki, the youngest of the five Booc siblings.
Chad, who would have turned 28 this April 17, was one of the five members of a group sent by the Save Our Schools Network (SOS Network) for research work in Davao de Oro last month.
Those killed with Chad were activist and Lumad school volunteer teacher Gelejurain “Jurain” Ngujo II, community health worker Elgyn Balonga, and drivers Roberto Aragon and Tirso Añar.
The group was traveling back to Davao City on Wednesday, February 23, the last time Balonga, one of Booc’s companions, had contact with her family.
Balonga asked her family members to fetch them as soon as they reached Davao City on February 23, according to SOS Network.
But the military said Booc and his companions were armed New People’s Army (NPA) rebels killed during an encounter in New Bataan, Davao de Oro, on the morning of February 24.
Sobbing, Chad’s father denied his son was a rebel or a terrorist contrary to what the military, police, and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) have been claiming.
“My son was an extraordinary person – he loved the poor and the marginalized. He was not a terrorist. He had so many plans to help the downtrodden,” the 66-year-old Napoleon said.
Napoleon broke his silence during the last day of Chad’s wake in Davao City on Thursday, and a day before he took his slain son’s body back to Cebu City.
Chad, he said, excelled in his academic studies until he earned his Computer Science degree, cum laude, at the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2016.
The activist and Lumad school volunteer teacher wanted to help people even while he was in school that he joined a group that developed a mobile application for a campus-based psychosocial wellness program.
The project was meant to provide a convenient and accessible mental health first-aid service to students fighting stigma and discrimination.
In 2019, Chad helped in developing a Manobo dictionary app to help in the education of Lumad in Mindanao.
Napoleon stood beside Chad’s coffin, wept, and recalled the time he advised his son to be more careful given that he was being red-tagged, and received death threats.
He said Chad dismissed the threats and assured his father that nothing bad would happen to him because none of the accusations were true.
In between sobs, the grieving father repeatedly asked Chad’s forgiveness for failing because he was not there to protect him while the young man was being shot.
“Dili nako kaya, Dong. Grabe ilang gibuhat, Dong. Dong, Chad, sorry kaayo, wa tika maprotektahi sa mga tawo nga mihunos sa imong kinabuhi, Dong, og naa pa lang ko, Dong, sugaton gyud nako sila bahalag akoy mauna,” Napoleon said in Cebuano.
(This is unbearable, my boy. What they did was terrible, my boy. My boy, Chad, I am so sorry I failed to protect you from those who took your life. If I were only there, my boy, I would’ve dashed at them. I wouldn’t care even if I go first.)
But he said he couldn’t stop his son from choosing the vocation that made him happy and gave his life meaning.
Former Ateneo School of Government Dean Antonio La Viña, one of the lawyers of the SOS Network, also paid tribute to Chad. He said he admired the young man’s grit and flamboyant attitude even amid threats.
“I am in sorrow. Angry, yes. But also grieving their deaths because I loved these two young men (Chad and Jurain) because of their total commitment to the Lumad,” La Viña said.
La Viña said he has kept a video of the activists before they left for Davao region, something which, according to the lawyer, may be used for “legal purposes.”
“But, I have to tell you, I cried. It’s a story of love, a story of commitment, a story of struggle that is not yet over,” he said.
La Viña said trees would be planted in honor of the activists at a place where they had one of their happiest moments prior to leaving for Mindanao.
“Yes, they are seeds. We will plant trees to remind us of Chad and Jurain’s love and commitment to the Lumad,” he said. – Rappler.com
Grace Cantal-Albasin is a Mindanao-based journalist and awardee of Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship
Jose Maria Sison, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant, said Leody de Guzman is the best among the candidates in the May 2022 presidential elections.
In a tweet on Thursday, March 3, Sison praised de Guzman’s candidacy and said he wishes the labor leader the best.
“Despite his lack of financial resources, he is the best of the presidential candidates in the 2022 elections,” Sison wrote on his Twitter account.
“Whatever is the outcome of his electoral campaign, he advances the just cause of the Filipino people in the struggle for national and social liberation,” one of the country’s most prominent political personalities added.
Sison was reacting to de Guzman’s answer to a media interview on what he thinks of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) co-founder who had been labelled as so-called terrorist by the Philippine government.
“I believe he is a revolutionary, not a terrorist,” de Guzman told One PH program “’Wag Po!” on Tuesday evening.
“If the issue is that he’s called a terrorist, not for me. My view of him is that Joma Sison is a revolutionary individual,” the candidate added.
Sison thanked de Guzman for defending him against the “false charge of terrorism.”
“For making his statement below, he is a principled and courageous political leader from the working class,” Sison said.
De Guzman is the presidential candidate most open to resuming formal peace negotiations with the NDFP, saying he had been espousing many of the same advocacies as those who were forced by social injustices to take up arms.
He also repeatedly said he does not consider the CPP, the New People’s Army and the NDFP as terrorist organizations.
“We should begin with an honest-to-goodness recognition they are not terrorists. We should acknowledge that their issues are legitimate,” he said.
If elected, de Guzman said his administration shall try to overturn the social system that makes rich people richer and the poor poorer. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
In a supplemental Twit, in reaction to several comments, Professor Sison stated the following: (Editors – Pinoy Abrod)
“Leody is best presidential candidate because he has best patriotic and progressive program. But Leni is far more winnable and will be able to fight best together with the people against the certain electoral fraud and terrorism that Duterte will do to make his chosen succesor win.”
By: Neil Arwin Mercado – Reporter /INQUIRER.net /March 03, 2022
MANILA, Philippines — Candidates who are asking for the topics to be discussed ahead of the actual debate “have nothing between their ears,” a political science professor from the University of the Philippines (UP) said.
Retired UP professor Clarita Carlos made the remark after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) decided to inform presidential and vice presidential candidates of the general topics that would be discussed in its own sanctioned debate in March.
“It tells you that they have nothing between their ears,” Carlos said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel on Wednesday when asked about candidates who ask for debate topics.
“I have been teaching for 55 years, if you were my student, am I going to give you my final exam questions? Tell me,” she added.
Comelec’s decision to release the general topics for the debate came after the request of the camp of presidential bet Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos for candidates to be allowed to tackle among themselves and the commission the topic to be discussed in the debate.
“You are threatening to be the president of the Republic of 110 million people, and what are you reading?” Carlos said.
“You should be reading international politics. You should know the regional configurations, you should know things about the domestic concerns. You’re not just selling taho on the street for God’s sake,” she added.
Carlos said that while no one can compel the candidates to attend the debates, however “they’ll have to wait for the pluses and minuses of not attending.”
“After all, there are several publics who will not mind and there are publics who will mind. So, you know, they take their chances,” Carlos said.
Marcos’ spokesperson, Atty. Vic Rodriguez, has previously said that the presidential candidate’s attendance will only be confirmed “if his hectic campaign schedules permit.”
