In commemoration of the 33rd year of the Mendiola Massacre, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Tanggol Magsasaka, and Rural Missionaries of the Philippines in cooperation with PATRIA and CLAMOR and the Movement Against Tyranny will hold a Forum on LAND, JUSTIC, and PEACE on January 22, 2020 from 1:00 – 4:00pm at the KKFI Gym, Paredes St. Sampaloc, Manila and will be followed by a protest march and torch and candle lighting at Mendiola. Attached is the concept note of the forum.
January 22, 1987, the heinous Mendiola Massacre in which 13
farmers calling for genuine agrarian refrom were killed and scores were
injured.
More than three decades after the massacre, farmers are
still fighting for genuine land reform, free land distribution, and seeking for
the elusive peace and justice that they have long fought and died for.
We are seeing a slight glimmer of hope despite the many
adversities besetting the Filipino people. The previous year ended with the
possibility of the resumption of the peace negotiations. It is in the interest
of the peasant masses and the Filipino people if the peace talks would
eventually resume to significantly conclude substantive discussions and approve
major documents including the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic
Reforms (CASER) and an Interim Peace Agreement.
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.
Anne Marxze Umil January 14, 2020 Graphics by Justin Umali/Bulatlat What this is, in simple terms, is disaster capitalism: the commodification of crisis in order to generate greater profits. What others would call “supply and demand” is actually sellers preying on fear, anxiety, and sometimes even safety in order to generate profit.
By JUSTIN UMALI | Bulatlat.com
Crises are always unpredictable regardless of preparation.
The current Taal eruption has given us multiple stories – haphazard responses
from the national government, heartwarming acts of kindness, and heartbreaking
tales of animals left behind in the evacuation.
But none are as infuriating as reports businesses, and
corporations putting their personal profit above the needs and safety of other
people.
One example is how retailers bumped up the price of face
masks in light of the ash fall. Old prices of P25-50 suddenly spiked to P200,
P300, or even P500 in a single day. Even regular cloth face masks, which
usually sell for far less, have risen to what can only be described as criminal
levels.
It’s easy to dismiss this behavior as “the law of supply and
demand” in action, implying that it is as natural as the next sunrise. But the
truth of the matter is that “supply and demand”, and the profit-driven force
behind it, is anything but natural.
What this is, in simple terms, is disaster capitalism: the
commodification of crisis in order to generate greater profits. What others
would call “supply and demand” is actually sellers preying on fear, anxiety,
and sometimes even safety in order to generate profit.
Disaster capitalism goes beyond retail. Despite laws meant
to protect worker occupational safety and health, call center agents from BPO
firms in Santa Rosa and Tagaytay had to brave harsh winds and dangerous ash
fall as they were required to report for work.
Other companies don’t fare better. Some are allowing their
employees to work from home, essentially profiting from their workers’
labor-power while putting the burden of other costs on them: electricity,
water, food, and so on.
The less than stellar government response also reeks of
greed. The Duterte administration is more than happy to slash as much as 11
billion pesos off the calamity fund, while the Department of Interior and Local
Government conducts itself like an NGO by calling for donations during times of
crisis. The Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, is offering a P25,000 loan to
fishermen affected by the eruption while the President pledges a P50,000 bonus
for birthday celebrants in the Marines.
Because at its core, disaster capitalism isn’t just
retailers engaging in price gouging. It is an entire system that dehumanizes
human suffering and puts a premium on increasing profit margins. Beyond
commodifying crisis, disaster capitalism extends to prioritizing capital over
rights, safety, and other needs.
It is a foreign BPO firm, stubbornly refusing to give their
workers a day off despite heavy ash fall. It is the modern worker, taking false
pride in their ability to brave the weather and declare themselves
“weatherproof”. It is the government, dangling loans to the poor while the
military who kills them gets a bonus.
Disaster capitalism is a disaster of capitalism, because it
exposes the ruling class’ lack of interest in affairs that don’t affect them.
No landlord lives in the Taal volcano island; only tourist guides, tilapia
farmers, and horses.
It thus falls on the people to unite against this disaster.
While corporations count their earnings for the day, the urban poor have
elected to give what little they have in the name of humanitarian aid.
Students, professionals, and workers from all over the nation are organizing
relief operations while the DILG and DSWD sit on their thumbs.
Even the Communist Party of the Philippines, and the
people’s democratic government in the countryside it represents, has tasked its
members and all revolutionary mass organizations to assist in relief efforts
where needed.
Stories like these make it clear who serves who. Big
businesses and out of touch government officials care only about their own
needs. It is the people – the street vendors, the urban poor, the students and
workers providing relief, the guerrillas in the countryside, and everybody
else, who serve the needs of those who need it most.
Because “serve the people” must, and will only, come from
the people themselves. (https://www.bulatlat.com)
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]
