Category: Human Rights

Mourning the lack of collective outrage

Published by Ellen on October 30, 2016

Every Undas or All Souls Day (Nov. 2) when Filipinos troop to cemeteries to remember departed loved ones, I always think of the families of desaparecidos.

Where do they go to offer flowers and light the candles for their dead whom they didn’t bury? I think of Edith Burgos, whose son Jonas was last seen on April 28, 2007 at the Ever Gotesco Mall. I think of University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno who were last seen on June 26, 2006 in Hagonoy, Bulacan.

There are many more: Father Rudy Romano, a Redemptorist priest who served landless peasants and displaced settlers and the six workers of Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines namely Joseph Belar, Jovencio Lagare, Romualdo Orcullo, Diosdado Oliver, Artemio Ayala Jr. and Arnold Dangkiasan.

The list is long according to Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND).

The Filipino people will survive Duterte

Published by Ellen on September 27, 2016

Duterte threatens to declare martial law before troops in Camp Evangelista, Cagayan de Oro.

In the traditional first 100 days assessment of a President’s performance one does not really expect concrete results knowing the complexities of governance but within the first three months, the public should have an idea the direction that the president is leading the country to.

Duterte has made clear what the public can expect in the coming months: there will be more killings.

The numbers vary and are difficult to ascertain but the figure being mentioned in news reports of illegal drugs related deaths under Duterte’s rule range from 1,500 to 300,000. The numbers continue to increase every day.

Well- meaning warning to the President from an ally

Published by Ellen on August 17, 2016

(Quote on immunity from suits starts at 17:40 mins)

In many of his speeches , President Rodrigo Duterte flaunts his immunity from suits as an armor amid mounting concerns about the extra-judicial killings in his campaign against illegal drugs.

In a speech before troops at Camp Gen. Macario B. Peralta, JR, Jamindan, Capiz last Aug. 5, he said, “Ang Presidente, hindi mo ma-demanda. ..mag-order ako ng patay, you cannot arrest me, may immunity ako.”

It’s not only those dealing with illegal drugs that he wants killed but all those he believes pose obstructions to his desire to improve the lives of the Filipino people.

Do we take President Duterte seriously?

Published by Ellen on August 11, 2016

I take him seriously because the president of the Republic of the Philippines is so powerful that with a stroke of a pen, he can save a life or send the nation to war.

Last Tuesday, President Duterte threatened to declare martial law.

“ Please, ‘wag mo akong… hindi ako gago. If this continues, pigilan mo ako eh ‘di sige. ‘Pag nagwala na...or would you rather that I will declare martial law?, he said before the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division in Camp Evangelista in Cagayan de Oro.

Duterte was lashing out on Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno who stood up to him by reminding him of the separation of powers and other provisions in the Constitution which he could have violated when he read a list of alleged illegal drugs protector including seven judges. Others in more than 150 names in the list were congressmen, military officials, police officers, mayors, and vice mayors.

Side effects of Duterte’s war against illegal drugs

Published by Ellen on August 4, 2016

Photo-journalists capture the moment.Photo by Vincent Go

Do you feel sick watching daily images on TV and newspapers of people killed, lying lifeless on the sidewalks covered with newspapers or plastic with only their dirty feet and worn-out rubber slippers seen?

And of course near the corpse, the cardboard sign “Drug pusher ako, huwag tularan”, which has now become a standard accessory in President Duterte’s war against illegal drugs.

Studies have shown the ill-effects of being exposed to traumatic images.

In an article in the website of Association for Psychological Science, psychological scientist Roxane Cohen Silver of the University of California, Irvine and colleagues said “repeated exposure to vivid traumatic images from the media could lead to long-lasting negative consequences, not just for mental health but also for physical health. “

The article said Silver and her colleagues “speculated that such media exposure could result in a stress response that triggers various physiologic processes associated with increased health problems over time.”

That’s for those who are exposed to disturbing images in media. How much more with members of media who are up close to those gruesome scenes to capture them for the people to know what’s happening in the country.

Duterte: a poor drug user is also a pusher

Published by Ellen on August 2, 2016

Photo by Raffy Lerma of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

A drug user who is rich is not necessarily a pusher because he has the money to buy the illegal substance. But if the drug user is poor, he is also a pusher.

That’s according to President Duterte.

In the President’s meeting with soldiers and policemen in Camp Nakar in Lucena City last July 28, he said “But a user is a pusher. Pwera na lang kung anak ka ni Ayala o ni Consunji o ni Gokongwei, ‘pag nalulong ka sa droga eh maghanap ka ng tao na isusuporta rin ang — sa bisyo mo. Then the other idiot will also contaminate and this must not happen.”

That explains why those killed (465 since Duterte assumed the presidency on June 30, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer) were all wearing rubber slippers. Too poor to even afford shoes .

Like Andanar, I cried listening to the President’s speech

Published by Ellen on July 26, 2016

President Rodrigo R. Duterte delivering his first State of the Nation Address at Batasang Pambansa. Photo by King Rodriguez/PPD

Press Secretary Martin Andanar, who said he cried when he read the draft of President Duterte’s first State of the Nation Address, was not being melodramatic.

I, too, cried listening to the President’s speech.

I don’t know which part made Andanar cry. As for me, it was the part when he lambasted media for likening to Michaelangelo’s “The Pieta”, the heart-wrenching photo of Jennelyn Olaires cradling the dead body of Michael Siaron, a 30-year-old pedicab driver, who was shot dead by motorcycle-riding men while he was waiting for passengers past midnight last Friday in Pasay City.

The unidentified gunmen left a cardboard sign, “I’m a drug pusher, do not emulate me.”

This is the picture (July 24 Inquirer) that Pres. Duterte dismissed as "drama.' — This is the picture (July 24 Inquirer) that Pres. Duterte dismissed as “drama.’

Inspired by Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, solons propose state-run crematoriums

Published by Ellen on July 12, 2016

AKO Bicol representatives. Proponents fro state-run crematoriums.

Inspired by the spate of killings which is an offshoot of President Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs, three congressmen proposed building a crematorium in every legislative district.

The proposal, contained in House Bill No. 135 authored by AKO Bicol party list Representatives Rodel Batocabe, Alfredo Garbin, and Christopher Co, is reminiscent of Nazi Germany more than 80 years ago, when Adolf Hitler waged a campaign to eliminate the Jews.

More than 20 million were killed in the 12-year reign of terror. Gas chambers and crematoriums were built to hasten the killings and the disposal of dead bodies.

News reports about the bill quoted Batocabe as saying, “Should President Duterte stay true to his mission to eliminate drug pushers by hook or by crook, our cemeteries will definitely be filled to the brim and the crematories will greatly help in this regard.”

Families of desaparecidos pin their hopes on Duterte

Published by Ellen on July 10, 2016

In search of Jonas Burgos. From the docu, The terror of the unhead voice

Former President Benigno Aquino III disappointed them. They are now pinning their hopes on what seemed years ago as the most unlikely person to be on their side: President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances or AFAD is requesting for a dialogue with the new president on the issue of forced disappearances.

Forced disappearance is an aberration because it defies the natural cycle of life which begins with birth and ends with death. Vanishing from the face of the earth is not normal.

But that’s what happened to many individuals in this world and in the Philippines the well-known names among them are peasant organizer Jonas Burgos, and UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno.

Don’t forget ill persons who are not physically disabled

Published by Ellen on March 31, 2016

PWDs special registration. Photo by Mario Ignacio IV for VERA Files.

The law signed by President Aquino March 23 exempting persons with disabilities from the value-added tax is a whiff of balm in the current toxic (Philippines as money laundering center of the $81 million bank heist and the negative vibes of the election campaign) atmosphere.

The law, Republic Act No. 10754, which amends Republic Act No. 7277, otherwise known as the “Magna Carta for Persons with Disability”, exempts PWDs from the 12 percent VAT, on top of the 20 percent discount they are currently entitled to under the Magna Carta.

The discount applies to transportation fees, medical and laboratory charges, cost of medicines, admission fees in cinemas and other leisure and amusement places, and funeral and burial services.

The House bill was sponsored by Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, by Sen. Sonny Angara.
The PWDs now enjoy the same privileges as senior citizens, an attribute of a compassionate society.