Taken from Agoncillo town, Batangas (Photo courtesy of Bro. CIriaco Santiago III)
John Aaron Mark Macaraeg
January 14, 2020
Out of the 4.1 trillion recently signed budget, P 16 B was appropriated for National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council or Calamity fund which is 20 percent lower from the P20 B last year.
By JOHN AARON MARK MACARAEG | Bulatlat.com
MANILA — As Taal Volcano continues its ash eruptions and
volcanic earthquakes, farmers group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas called on
the Philippine government to provide due assistance to affected farmers and
fisherfolk in the vicinity.
“Those in affected areas are in desperate need of urgent
assistance, especially as farmers still reel from the effects of rice
liberalization, chronic government neglect, and climate change,” said Danilo
Ramos of KMP.
The Taal began spewing ashes last Sunday, destroying at
least P74.55 million in agriculture and affecting at least 752 hectares of
lands, mostly coffee farms, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Agriculture secretary William Dar announced yesterday that farmers and fisherfolk victims may avail of a P25,000-loan with zero interest and payable in three years.
In a released statement, however, Ramos called out the loan
as “mere alms or palimos meant to save face.”
Fisherfolk group Pamalakaya, for its part, referred to the
loan as “callous.”
Citing government data, they said the province of Batangas
has produced more than 16,400 metric tons of bangus, which is four percent of
the country’s total production in 2018.
Thus, the group’s demand for Secretary Dar to “at least
temporarily disrobe his neoliberal suit to humanely aid the affected fisherfolk
and peasant families” and appeal for the reparation for the loss of potential
income.
Redirect intel budget for relief efforts
Interior and Local Government secretary Eduardo Año received
backlash from netizens over his statement, appealing to the public to donate
drinking water, food and other essentials needed by evacuees.
Ramos called Año’s statement as an “admission of the
insufficiency of government supplies and funds, and reveals his shameless lack
of sense of responsibility.”
He advised instead for the Duterte administration to make
use of the P4.5 billion intel funds of the President’s office to help the Taal
victims’ need for food and drinking supplies.
Many have also pointed out in social media the cut in
calamity fund under the 2020 approved budget.
Out of the 4.1 trillion recently signed budget, P 16 B was
appropriated for National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council or
Calamity fund which is 20 percent lower from the P20 B last year.
Critics are only hopeful that the allocated budget and
donations would reach peoples needing it and not end up in anyone’s own pocket.
(https://www.bulatlat.com)
“Sagip Kanayunan” is KMP’s initiative to directly provide
relief for affected farmers and rural communities. Donations can be dropped off
at No. 56 K-9 St. West Kamias, Quezon City.
Gaea Katreena Cabico (Philstar.com) – January 2, 2020
MANILA, Philippines — It is the failure of the government to
address the country’s labor woes that cost domestic worker Jeanelyn Villavende
her life, an overseas workers’ group said Thursday.
Villavende was allegedly killed by her employer’s wife,
barely six months after she flew to Kuwait.
“We weep with rage as
the Duterte regime’s labor export program has claimed another casualty on the
back of the high unemployment rate and absence of job security in the
Philippines,” Migrante International said in a statement.
In his speeches to Filipino communities abroad, Duterte
often says the government is trying to spur development in the Philippines so
overseas workers can come home.
Government agencies said Villavende’s death is a “clear
violation” of the 2018 agreement signed by both Kuwait and the Philippines that
seeks to uphold and promote the protection of the rights and welfare of
Filipino workers in the Gulf nation.
The Department of Labor and Employment also set a partial
deployment ban following the death of another Filipina.
Migrante said that while Kuwait’s action in bringing
perpetrators to justice is urgently needed, the administration of President
Rodrigo Duterte must also be criticized for “denying permanent justice to
Filipino workers in their own country.”
‘Many Filipinos forced to work abroad’
It was her desire to escape poverty and help her father that
reportedly compelled Villavende to leave the Philippines for Kuwait.
“It is therefore the Duterte regime’s stubborn refusal to
address the long-time demands of workers and farmers that deprived Jeanelyn
Villavende of fulfilling her yearning to provide a life of comfort and security
for her family,” Migrante said.
It added: “Government agencies may rush to provide
short-term aid to her grieving family but that will never be enough to
terminate the tragedy of forced migration that has cost an OFW like Jeanelyn
her life.”
An estimated 10 million Filipinos—roughly a tenth of the
country’s population—work abroad as a way of escaping unemployment, low wages
and limited opportunities in the Philippines.
In December, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported
there were 2.05 million unemployed persons in the country as of October 2019.
The number of underemployed Filipinos, meanwhile, was pegged at 5.62 million.
‘Cycle of homicidal enslavement’
At least two other domestic workers were killed in Kuwait
over the last two years.
In February 2018, the body of Joanna Demafelis was
discovered inside a freezer. An angry President Duterte said Demafelis’ corpse
“bore torture marks and indications that she was strangled to death.”
Her death sparked a diplomatic crisis between the
Philippines and Kuwait, which resulted in a labor deal.
In May 2019, Constancia Dayag was killed in the Gulf state.
She was allegedly physically and sexually assaulted before she died.
“The death cases of Joanna Demafelis and Constancia Dayag in
Kuwait point to the endless cycle of homicidal enslavement that OFWs go through
as a result of the government’s constant peddling of Filipino workers as export
commodities to salvage an ailing domestic community,” Migrante said.
People evacuate from Talisay, Batangas after Taal volcano eruption Jan. 13, 2020. Courtesy of Fr. Jazz Siapco/Lipa Archdiocesan Social Action Center
By CBCP News January 13, 2020 Manila, Philippines
A Church official appealed for prayers and help Monday for
thousands of people displaced by a volcanic eruption near Manila.
Archbishop Gilbert Garcera of Lipa has asked Catholics to
join him in praying for the safety of everyone amidst the Taal volcano eruption
on Sunday.
The volcano spewed massive ash clouds, forcing the
evacuation of thousands of residents.
The archdiocese’s parish churches have opened their doors to
evacuees as the volcano continued to increase its volcanic activity.
The Society of the Divine Word (SVD) Seminary and other
religious institutions are also accepting evacuees in Tagaytay City.
Ashfall from the explosion also reached Metro Manila and
could possibly spread to Central Luzon.
“Aside from prayers, we are appealing for donations in cash
or in-kind for the archdiocese’s ongoing relief operations,” Garcera said over
Radio Veritas.
At least 15,000 people have fled their homes in Batangas
province as of Monday, according to an initial report from the local disaster
risk reduction and management office.
Archbishop Garcera said they are currently assisting more
than 3,000 evacuees who are in need of food and water.
Thousands more evacuees who sought refuge in dozens of
evacuation centers were reported in Batangas and Cavite provinces.
The archbishop said church workers and volunteers are
working round the clock to ensure that the evacuees’ basic needs are met.
The Lipa Archdiocesan Social Action Center also said that
more people need face masks, medicine, blankets, towels, flashlights, and fuel.
For inquiries and donations to the Lipa archdiocese, please
refer to the following contact numbers: (043) 404-8057 or +63 9255595968.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila and other bishops also
offered prayers amid the volcano eruption.
Our partners in Eastern Visayas Cluster is asking for your earnest help and support. Please see the attached infographic for full details.
Also, please let the Secretariat and/or PMPI local staff in
Guiuan, Carmi Macapagao the amount you’ve donated so that we can monitor the
funds coming in.
According to the Vatican’s missionary agency Fides, 29
missionaries were killed in the world in the year 2019: six laymen, two women
religious, two men religious, one Permanent Deacon and 18 priests.
In Africa, 12 priests were killed, one religious, one nun,
one seminarian and one layman (15); in America, six priests were killed and one
Permanent Deacon, one Religious and four laymen (12); in Asia, one layman (1)
and in Europe one nun (1).
“After eight consecutive years, during which the highest
number of missionaries killed was recorded in America, since 2018 it’s Africa
that is in the first place of this tragic classification,” states Fides.
Fides also notes that there is a sort of “globalization of
violence.” “If in the past, the missionaries killed were largely concentrated
in one nation or geographic area, in 2019 the phenomenon seemed more
generalized and widespread,” in 10 countries of Africa, eight of America, one
of Asia and one of Europe.
In this context, Fides quotes Pope Francis’ words for the Extraordinary
Missionary Month of last October. “I desire that the 100 years celebration of
(Benedict XV’s Apostolic Letter) Maximum Illud constitutes in the month of
October 2019, a propitious time so that prayer, the witness of so many saints
and martyrs of the mission, biblical and theological reflection, catechesis and
missionary charity contribute to evangelize first and above all the Church, so
that having rediscovered the freshness and ardour of the first love for the
crucified and Risen Lord, she is able to evangelize the world with credibility
and evangelical efficacy.” It was in these terms that Pope Francis, on
addressing the General Assembly of the Pontifical Missionary Works, on July 3,
2017, referred to the witness of so many missionaries who gave their life for
the Lord Jesus, as one of the four dimensions to take into account in the
celebration of the Extraordinary Missionary Month of October 2019.”
Pope’s Message for 53rd World Day of Peace – January 1st (Full Text)
‘The grace of God our Father is bestowed as unconditional love’
January 01, 2020
Here is the text of Pope Francis’ message for the World Day
of Peace, which is celebrated today, January 1, 2020, on the theme: “Peace as a
Journey of Hope: Dialogue, Reconciliation and Ecological Conversion.”
The text was presented Dec.12, 2019, the Feast of Our Lady
of Guadalupe, in the Holy See Press Office. Here is Pope Francis’ message for
peace:
Pope Francis leads a Mass marking the World Day of Peace in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, January 1, 2020. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
1. Peace, a journey of hope in the face of obstacles and trial
Peace is a great and precious value, the object of our hope
and the aspiration of the entire human family. As a human attitude, our hope
for peace is marked by an existential tension that makes it possible for the
present, with all its difficulties, to be “lived and accepted if it leads
towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great
enough to justify the effort of the journey”.[1] Hope is thus the virtue that
inspires us and keeps us moving forward, even when obstacles seem
insurmountable.
Our human community bears, in its memory and its flesh, the
scars of ever more devastating wars and conflicts that affect especially the
poor and the vulnerable. Entire nations find it difficult to break free of the
chains of exploitation and corruption that fuel hatred and violence. Even
today, dignity, physical integrity, freedom, including religious freedom,
communal solidarity and hope in the future are denied to great numbers of men
and women, young and old. Many are the innocent victims of painful humiliation
and exclusion, sorrow and injustice, to say nothing of the trauma born of
systematic attacks on their people and their loved ones.
The terrible trials of internal and international conflicts,
often aggravated by ruthless acts of violence, have an enduring effect on the
body and soul of humanity. Every war is a form of fratricide that destroys the
human family’s innate vocation to brotherhood.
War, as we know, often begins with the inability to accept
the diversity of others, which then fosters attitudes of aggrandizement and
domination born of selfishness and pride, hatred and the desire to caricature,
exclude and even destroy the other. War is fueled by a perversion of
relationships, by hegemonic ambitions, by abuses of power, by fear of others
and by seeing diversity as an obstacle. And these, in turn, are aggravated by
the experience of war.
As I observed during my recent Apostolic Journey to Japan,
our world is paradoxically marked by “a perverse dichotomy that tries to defend
and ensure stability and peace through a false sense of security sustained by a
mentality of fear and mistrust, one that ends up poisoning relationships
between peoples and obstructing any form of dialogue. Peace and international
stability are incompatible with attempts to build upon the fear of mutual
destruction or the threat of total annihilation. They can be achieved only on
the basis of a global ethic of solidarity and cooperation in the service of a
future shaped by interdependence and shared responsibility in the whole human
family of today and tomorrow”.[2]
Every threatening situation feeds mistrust and leads people
to withdraw into their own safety zone. Mistrust and fear weaken relationships
and increase the risk of violence, creating a vicious circle that can never
lead to a relationship of peace. Even nuclear deterrence can only produce the
illusion of security.
We cannot claim to maintain stability in the world through
the fear of annihilation, in a volatile situation, suspended on the brink of a
nuclear abyss and enclosed behind walls of indifference. As a result, social
and economic decisions are being made that lead to tragic situations where
human beings and creation itself are discarded rather than protected and preserved.[3]
How, then, do we undertake a journey of peace and mutual respect? How do we
break the unhealthy mentality of threats and fear? How do we break the current
dynamic of distrust?
We need to pursue a genuine fraternity based on our common
origin from God and exercised in dialogue and mutual trust. The desire for
peace lies deep within the human heart, and we should not resign ourselves to
seeking anything less than this.
2. Peace, a journey of listening based on memory, solidarity and fraternity
The Hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are among those who currently keep alive the flame of
collective conscience, bearing witness to succeeding generations to the horror
of what happened in August 1945 and the unspeakable sufferings that have
continued to the present time. Their testimony awakens and preserves the memory
of the victims, so that the conscience of humanity may rise up in the face of
every desire for dominance and destruction. “We cannot allow present and future
generations to lose the memory of what happened here. It is a memory that
ensures and encourages the building of a more fair and fraternal future”.[4]
Like the Hibakusha, many people in today’s world are working
to ensure that future generations will preserve the memory of past events, not
only in order to prevent the same errors or illusions from recurring, but also
to enable memory, as the fruit of experience, to serve as the basis and
inspiration for present and future decisions to promote peace.
What is more, memory is the horizon of hope. Many times, in
the darkness of wars and conflicts, the remembrance of even a small gesture of
solidarity received can lead to courageous and even heroic decisions. It can
unleash new energies and kindle new hope in individuals and communities.
Setting out on a journey of peace is a challenge made all
the more complex because the interests at stake in relationships between
people, communities and nations, are numerous and conflicting. We must first
appeal to people’s moral conscience and to personal and political will. Peace
emerges from the depths of the human heart and political will must always be
renewed, so that new ways can be found to reconcile and unite individuals and
communities.
The world does not need empty words but convinced witnesses,
peacemakers who are open to a dialogue that rejects exclusion or manipulation.
In fact, we cannot truly achieve peace without a convinced dialogue between men
and women who seek the truth beyond ideologies and differing opinions. Peace
“must be built up continually”;[5] it is a journey made together in constant
pursuit of the common good, truthfulness and respect for law. Listening to one
another can lead to mutual understanding and esteem, and even to seeing in an
enemy the face of a brother or sister.
The peace process thus requires enduring commitment. It is a
patient effort to seek truth and justice, to honour the memory of victims and
to open the way, step by step, to a shared hope stronger than the desire for
vengeance. In a state based on law, democracy can be an important paradigm of
this process, provided it is grounded in justice and a commitment to protect
the rights of every person, especially the weak and marginalized, in a constant
search for truth.[6] This is a social undertaking, an ongoing work in which
each individual makes his or her contribution responsibly, at every level of
the local, national and global community.
As Saint Paul VI pointed out, these “two aspirations, to
equality and to participation, seek to promote a democratic society… This calls
for an education to social life, involving not only the knowledge of each
person’s rights, but also its necessary correlative: the recognition of his or
her duties with regard to others. The sense and practice of duty are themselves
conditioned by the capacity for self-mastery and by the acceptance of
responsibility and of the limits placed upon the freedom of individuals or the
groups”.[7]
LICAS.News Ronald O. Reyes, Philippines January 6, 2020
Climate activist and Super Typhoon Haiyan survivor Joanna Sustento holds a lone protest in September 2019 in front of the Philippine headquarters of Shell to call for climate justice. (Photo courtesy of Greenpeace)
A typhoon survivor in the central Philippines has turned herself into a “climate warrior” after losing her parents and most of her family members to disasters in recent years.
Joanna Sustento, 28, said her climate advocacy is what
matters to her now.
She’s worried that even her dream of one day having her own
family will be taken away “by the same monster that took away my family.”
“I cannot allow my future family, my nieces, nephews, and
godchildren to experience what I’ve been through,” she told LiCAS.News.
The climate campaigner for environment group Greenpeace said
fossil fuel industries are to blame for the climate crisis “because (they) did
not give us an alternative.”
She said going after “big polluters” is a way of calling out
to them “to own up to their responsibility for the climate crisis.”
“They knew of the catastrophic impacts, but they decided to
discredit the science and deceive the world because of profit at the expense of
the people and the planet,” she said.
In a “perfect world,” Sustento said she would “probably
spend days on the beach and bury my face in books, sleep or play with my
nephews, nieces and godchildren.”
She was 22 years old when Super Typhoon Haiyan devastated
the central Philippines, leaving about 7,000 people, including Sustento’s loved
ones, dead and thousands of others missing.
“If Haiyan did not happen, I would have been managing my own
business, maybe a restaurant,” she said. “That’s how simple my dream was,” said
added.
Her dreams were torn apart with the death of her parents. A
3-year-old nephew, Tarin, remains missing.
“Tarin would have been nine years old by now if not for the
storm that snatched him away from the arms of his mother,” said Sustento.
More than six years after that tragedy in November 2013, the
people of Tacloban and the province of Leyte in the central Philippines
continue to demand justice.
“I can no longer remain silent if it is already the lives
and livelihood of people in my community being sacrificed for corporate
profits,” she said.
In her advocacy, the young lady said she found “a stronger
version” of herself, support, and strength.
“I may have lost my family to the storm, but I am not losing
to this climate crisis,” she wrote in a letter to Shell Philippines, one of the
big oil companies in the country.
From her pioneering protest ride on an oil rig in Norway’s
Arctic sea in 2017 to her lone and silent protests in front of offices of oil
companies in Manila, Sustento persevered.
“The story of Haiyan speaks not just for Tacloban, it speaks
for the other climate-impacted communities globally,” she said.
Young climate activists hold a demonstration in Manila during the Christmas holidays to call attention to the state of the environment. (Photo by Jire Carreon)
‘David vs Goliath’
More than six years after Haiyan, full rehabilitation of
devastated communities in the central Philippines remains wanting.
“I move forward with the intention of pursuing a purpose
that is bigger than myself,” said Sustento.
As discussions on climate crisis heat up following a call
last year from 16-year old Swedish girl Greta Thunberg, Sustento said it is
“interesting” that climate issues are being discussed by young people.
“It’s ‘David and Goliath,’” she said. “It’s to prove that
even if we do things alone, we can spark inspiration for other people to
follow.”
Ronan Renz Napoto, another young climate advocate from the
city of Tacloban, said more young people now are becoming aware of climate
change issues.
He said youth-led climate actions “clearly send a message to
everyone that it is a serious threat that everyone should care about.”
“When kids are out there taking their stand, demanding for
actions, we know something is wrong,” he said, adding that young people “are
here to do what adults should have done before.”
The 21-year-old lead convenor of Youth Strike for Climate
Philippines in Tacloban said the crisis “excuses no one.”
“Our next generation will suffer more if we don’t act now,”
he said. “This is our future that we are talking about.”
“It is our time to fight for our future because the adults
have failed to do this, and we can’t keep on relying from their inaction and
silence,” he said.
Like Sustento, Napoto is postponing his personal plans for
his advocacy.
“This is very personal,” he said, adding that people in the
central Philippines who were affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan “have felt the
worst impact of climate change.”
“Haiyan is more than enough reason to make this fight
personal,” said Napoto who recently received his diploma in Industrial
Engineering at a local university.
But the young man said he is giving more time for his
advocacy works and volunteer activities.
In the city of Tacloban, Napoto and his group are demanding
from the government stronger climate change adaptation and disaster risk
reduction and management policies.
They are also calling for the immediate phaseout of coal and
other fossil fuels and a transition to the use of renewable energy.
In a message to the U.N. Climate Action Summit last year,
Pope Francis called on people around to world “to cultivate three great moral
qualities: honesty, responsibility and courage.”
“While the situation is not good, and the planet is
suffering, the window of opportunity is still open,” said the pontiff.
Responding to the pope’s call, Napoto said he will continue
to take responsibility and to raise the environment’s voice in his own little
way.
As another year starts, Sustento and Napoto vowed to persist
as “climate warriors” no matter how long and arduous the battle ahead.
Mark Saludes, Philippines LICAS.NEWS January 2, 2020
Advocates for indigenous peoples’ rights share food and stories with displaced tribal children to mark the start of the new year. (Photo by Mark Saludes)
A survey conducted at the end of 2019 revealed that despite difficulties they have encountered Filipinos continue to remain hopeful about the future.
Results of a survey done by independent pollster Social
Weather Stations showed that 96 percent of respondents are “entering 2020 with
hopes rather than with fears.”
“Hope gives me the energy to move on and pursue my dreams
for my community,” said Lodema dela Cruz Doroteo, a teacher, when asked about
the survey results.
Doroteo belongs to the Dumagat tribe in Tanay town, north of
Manila. She is the first to finish college from her poor community.
When she finished her education in 2016, she went back to
her tribe and established a school for tribal children.
“We started with nothing,” she said, adding that she used
charcoal, stones, and bamboo as writing materials.
She used the power of social media to gather support for the
community school. People from the city responded and provided help.
Fear, however, recently enveloped Doroteo’s village when an
armed clash erupted between government security forces and communist
guerrillas.
When the military operations began, teachers and pupils were
prevented from going to school. People were also prohibited to enter the
forest.
Doroteo set aside fear and clung to her belief that “only
education will give my people the courage to speak out for their rights.”
She continues to open the school despite the threats. She
recounted an incident when soldiers accused the teachers of teaching the
children how to use guns.
Fireworks welcome the new year in the suburb of Quezon City in the Philippine capital Manila. (Photo by Angie de Silva)
Rebuilding hope to battle fear
In the southern Philippines, an activist group said “hope
and space” for tribal education are “diminishing” because of continuous attacks
on tribal schools and communities.
“Fear is all over the place,” said Rius Valle, spokesman of
the group Save Our Schools Network.
Marielle Lucenio, Philippines LICAS.NEWS January 2, 2020
Thousands of people join the annual thanksgiving procession in honor of Manila’s Black Nazarene on Dec. 31. (Photo by Jire Carreon)
Devotees of the Black Nazarene crowded outside the church of Manila’s old Quiapo district on the last day of the year to mark the start of an annual feast that usually attracts millions of people.
An estimated 64,000 crowd joined the thanksgiving procession
for the Black Nazarene midnight of Dec. 31.
Philippine authorities said this year’s procession was
record-breaking because it was over in only one hour and 40 minutes, compared
to previous years when it took more than four hours.
“The longer the time that we spend in the procession, the
more it is susceptible to crime, susceptible to threats,” said police Brigadier
General Debold Sinas, head of the capital’s police office.
Monsignor Hernando Coronel, rector of Quiapo church, said this
year, the image of Jesus carrying a cross was placed on a carroza, or float,
instead of on a platform called andas, which was used to be pulled by the
faithful during the procession.
“There were no banners, no unruly mob that used to climb the
andas,” he noted.
The priest described this year’s procession as “the most
solemn and orderly,” adding that even those who followed the event on social
media noticed the behavior of the crowd.
This year’s thanksgiving procession also saw changes with
devotees following the carroza of the Nazarene. “Everyone had candles and
prayed the rosary,” said Monsignor Coronel.
Authorities said the same security arrangement will be
implemented during the traslacion procession, or the transfer of the image
during actual feast on Jan. 9.
Attending Catholics said their faith continues to be strong
despite their failure to touch the image of the Black Nazarene during the
thanksgiving procession.
“It is not necessary to touch or to get near the Black
Nazarene,” said Elmer, 51, a devotee since he was 15 years old. “I have always
believed that he’s just there, anytime I can go to him,” he said.
JR Aquino, 32, said that although some people were
disappointed because they failed to touch the image of Jesus, “I don’t mind
because I’m here to just give thanks to the Nazarene for everything.
“I still won’t be separated with the Nazarene because he
gave me the strength to still be devoted to him, to worship him,” said Romy, a
devotee since 1953.
The thanksgiving procession on the last day of the year is
held annually ahead of the big religious procession every Jan. 9.
Traslacion, which means transfer, is often referred to as
the Feast of the Black Nazarene. It emulates the “solemn transfer” of the image
from its original shrine in the old Manila to the Minor Basilica in Quiapo in
1787.
The Black Nazarene is a life-size image of a dark-skinned,
kneeling Jesus Christ carrying the cross.
Every year, on Jan. 9, millions of devotees join a
procession to re-enact the 1787 transfer.
The annual religious event is the largest
procession in the country, drawing millions of devotees thronging to touch the
icon and lasting 20 hours at the most.
In the spirit of the season, the Movement Against Tyranny
appeals to all concerned parties and the Filipino people to earnestly work for
the resumption of the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic
of the Philippine (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines
(NDFP).
We see the possible resumption of the talks as a silver
lining in a year that has seen a worsening state of tyranny and human rights
violations committed against persons and communities critical of the
government, especially those accused of being fronts or having sympathies with
the NDFP.
Instead of publicly vilifying and killing suspected rebels
and their alleged sympathizers ala Oplan Tokhang, or pining for a military
junta in the guise of a revolutionary government, it would be much more
productive for the Duterte regime to just sit down with the NDFP to discuss how
to work together to end the roots of the armed conflict, including how to
uphold human rights and achieve much needed social, economic and political
reforms.
We appeal on both sides to respect the temporary ceasefire
until January 7 as a confidence building measure towards the resumption of the
talks. Initial snags should not be used to derail the bigger objective of
bringing both sides to the negotiating table.
To the hawks, militarists, peace spoilers and those
profiting from war, including the billions on intelligence funds and political largesse
disguised as rebel reintegration programs, we say enough. It is time to give
peace a chance.
Our people will certainly appreciate and support efforts by
both sides to arrive at a just and meaningful resolution of the armed conflict.
The whole nation awaits with hope for that time when everyone can work together
to end tyranny and achieve a just and lasting peace in our land.#
