Mong Palatino

Published by Bayan Metro Manila

The deadly Duterte variant is the biggest threat facing Filipinos today

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque blamed the new coronavirus variant for the surge in COVID-19 cases when it is clear that our alarming situation today should be attributed to the government’s bungled pandemic response.

Duterte stubbornly enforced lockdown measures which not only failed to contain the virus but also led to disastrous social and economic dislocations. His militarized response created fear which became the government’s model in dealing with the public health crisis.

The ECQ in 2020 was applied sans mass testing, tracing, and treatment. It’s being revived today amid the uncertainty surrounding the roll-out of vaccines. In both 2020 and 2021, the government deployed troops in checkpoints and other public places to observe health protocols when all stakeholders are clamoring for urgent medical solutions.

The government claims its policies are data-driven but it is obvious that the framework in addressing the crisis is through the lens of the security cluster. Hence, the imposition of questionable restrictions such as the 6pm curfew and the hard lockdown regulations implemented by authorities.
We doubt if the data they are compiling are intended to benefit the public since the pandemic-related policies have been consistently anti-poor, anti-worker, anti-youth, anti-women, and anti-democracy. The government is equating the herding of people and silencing of critics with succes as if these are scientific solutions to the pandemic.

Reviving the ECQ and extending the world’s longest lockdown will continue to be counterproductive as long as the militarist approach is used to deal with the pandemic.

Duterte is liable for his failed leadership during the pandemic. The absentee president could not think of other ways to face the crisis other than to sow fear and brutally control the movement of people. This discredited frame of mind has led to tragic consequences since 2016. We deserve better than this murderous, callous, and incompetent regime.

Roque urged the people to reflect about the pandemic during the Holy Week. He should regret giving this advice since another ECQ lockdown will certainly force many Filipinos to realize that the heaviest burden we are carrying is the failed presidency of Duterte. And the only way to end our miseries is to fight for a new and better government.

Wakasan ang kalbaryo ng mamamayan,

Patalsikin ang Rehimeng Duterte!

Written for The Diplomat

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has warned against the deterioration of freedom of expression under the government of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

After a planned rally was canceled in Tacloban City on May 25, Duterte issued a public statement blaming “the forces of darkness that threaten not only our rights to express our grievances but the very existence of our nation.”

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UN Expert Cites Need for Legal Reforms in the Philippines

Written for The Diplomat

The initial report of United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression Irene Khan after her recent 10-day official visit to the Philippines has drawn mixed reactions from government officials and various stakeholders.

Khan was the third U.N. special rapporteur to visit the country since Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. became president in June 2022, which authorities have claimed as proof of the willingness of the new government to engage with the U.N. and the international community to address human rights concerns.

Khan will submit her full report to the U.N. in June 2025 which gives the government and other stakeholders enough time to evaluate the initial recommendations and to work on substantially improving the country’s state of freedom of expression.

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Written for The Diplomat

The quick answer to the question posed in the title of this article is no. They are criticizing members of Congress and even Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., but their party is still part of the ruling coalition.

If the split becomes irreconcilable, the Dutertes are expected to mobilize their local constituents and loyal allies; but they will get no support from activists, human rights defenders, independent media, and opposition politicians, all of whom were viciously persecuted during the previous government.

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Can Vice President Sara Duterte Lead the Philippine Opposition?

Written for The Diplomat

Immediately after the resignation last week of Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte as education secretary and vice chairperson of the government’s anti-communist task force, her supporters claimed that she had just become the leader of the country’s opposition.

Duterte has not commented on this, but opposition parties balked at the idea and pointed out that the vice president has to be made accountable for her use of the controversial confidential funds in 2022. She is also being implicated in the brutal “war on drugs” unleashed by the previous government of Rodrigo Duterte, her father.

As supposed leader of the opposition, Duterte has to work with various political formations in order to be effective in challenging the policies of the Marcos government. As it stands now, she will find it extremely difficult to connect with genuine and credible opposition forces since the majority have been victims of her father’s repressive administration.

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Written for The Diplomat

The plan to amend certain economic provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution is proceeding, with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. announcing his preference to hold a plebiscite during the 2025 midterm local election. Both Houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, are already conducting public hearings about the proposal, despite the concerns raised by various stakeholders that the planned Charter Change, or ChaCha, could lead to the removal of term limits and the self-serving extension of terms of incumbent officials.

Congress will adjourn sessions before the Holy Week. The next two weeks are therefore crucial if pro-ChaCha legislators will be able to persuade the Congress leadership to vote on the measure. Furthermore, their biggest challenge is how to get the support of the public who are increasingly being made aware that Marcos and his allies are prioritizing ChaCha instead of other urgent people’s concerns.

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Charter Change Bid Moves Forward in the Philippines

Written for The Diplomat

Several initiatives promoting the amendment of the 1987 Philippine Constitution have garnered the support of the leadership of both houses of Congress, even if the campaign could further cause political disunity and public dissatisfaction.

Legislators, including the Senate leadership, have agreed to support the “economic ChaCha” which means this was done with the support of President Marcos. At the minimum, ChaCha could energize debates about the roots of the country’s underdevelopment and whether allowing foreigners to acquire more assets and a greater role in the economy will spur progress. But ChaCha could also inflame acrimonious rhetoric, exacerbate political differences, and even ignite destabilization. Can Marcos and his government afford to take this risk amid rising global tensions and regional instability?

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Published by Bulatlat

The 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was supposed to showcase the post-pandemic recovery and resurgence of the economy but it only put into spotlight its notorious legacy amid the raging crisis in the multipolar world and genocidal occupation in Palestine.

News narratives hyped the United States – China rivalry without calling out the complicity of the two global powers in fanning proxy wars, enabling military dictatorships, and supporting acts of aggression.

The historic meeting of Joe Biden and Xi Jinping should not obscure the epic failure of APEC, which was established in 1989, in transforming the world for the better. The focus should be on the role of APEC in making precarity the absurd new normal by facilitating unequal trade agreements, anti-labor legislations, and neocolonial plunder of resources in developing nations.

Choosing San Francisco in California as APEC host reflected the surreal hegemony of the US. A city of extremes populated by Silicon Valley billionaires on one hand and homeless workers on the other. Despite the dystopian reality plaguing the city, it gets to preach the potential of digital technology, and AI in particular, in solving the world’s problems.

How ironic that a gathering of free market fundamentalists would require the strong fascist arm of the state to make the homeless invisible and drive away protesters.

It is under this backdrop that ‘shutdown APEC’ protests were held from November 11 to 17. There were numerous small and centralized direct action assemblies but the major events included the people’s summit on November 11, the mass mobilization on November 12, and shutdown actions on November 15.

The summit gathered more than a thousand people who shared testimonies about how APEC impoverished a generation, displaced Indigenous peoples, and undermined the rights of workers. A powerful keynote address by Chinese-American activist Brandon Lee linked the dehumanizing impact of APEC with the rise of brutal authoritarian governments. As an activist living in the Cordillera region in the Philippines who survived an assassination attempt, he embodies what it means to confront the beast that inflicts suffering in grassroots communities. His story resonated with a crowd of migrants and local organizers who led workshops and group sessions about the campaigns and struggles they are waging from Myanmar to the Pasifika.

The summit energized the delegates ahead of the big mobilization in downtown San Francisco. The march drew a crowd that countered the feel-good and deceptive messaging of APEC organizers. The truth about APEC was seen and heard that day as protesters assembled and walked towards the main conference center. Community leaders highlighted the colonial crimes of imperialist powers, the collusion of multinational corporations and despotic regimes, and the systematic attack on the working classes.

The protest was a massive educational event about APEC and its discontents and how it disrupted lives from Haiti and Peru to India and Korea. The issues seemed overwhelming but the crowd knew there was a common enemy to be defeated: the evil empire behind APEC and the mass slaughter of innocent civilians in Palestine. No participant that day went home without understanding the evil link between the mass pauperization in the world and the genocidal war in Palestine. One cannot stand up for labor rights and climate justice while remaining quiet about the crimes against humanity perpetrated by Israel and its powerful backers.

Thus, the need to protest and to articulate the demands loud and clear. And for activists opposed to APEC and the ongoing attacks in Gaza, the message was delivered when they shut down the streets leading to the conference center on November 15. The daring protest involved activists chaining themselves to gated barricades while being surrounded by fellow activists. A youth leader said it was her act of love for the community. Brandon Lee himself was chained to the entrance even if he was in a wheelchair. Several streets were blocked for a few hours which showed the successful coordination among various groups and their meticulous planning in symbolically shutting down the APEC behemoth.

The shutdown took place while sizeable pockets of protests were held in consulates and hotels to protest the arrival of infamous heads of state. For example, protests hounded Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong’ Marcos Jr and his delegation when they first arrived in South San Francisco and throughout their stay at the luxurious Ritz Carlton Hotel. Marcos Jr had the gall to talk about peace and development when he allowed the expansion of US military facilities in the Philippines over the past year while continuing to endorse the export of his own people under the neoliberal framework that underpins the doctrine of APEC.

When APEC leaders posed for their traditional group photo, it became clearer that the “resilient and sustainable future” promised by this year’s conference theme is only for the narrow elite interest and not for the benefit of ordinary people. How can the future become sustainable and resilient when governments continue to support a system that cannibalizes the planet in the service of corporate profit and imperialist plunder?

Hope lies in the resistance to APEC and the war machine that perpetuates the exploitation of the oppressed. And the resistance is relentless. This relentlessness was on display in the streets of San Francisco last week which echoes the voices of solidarity from all places where people are fiercely organizing and building a new, progressive, and just future.

Written for The Diplomat

Allies of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. are squabbling over the allocation of confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs), which could undermine the “unity government” that rose to power in 2022.

CIFs are not subjected to normal auditing rules because it is assumed that law enforcement agencies use them for sensitive national security matters. During the budget deliberations in August, opposition lawmakers questioned the CIF request of civilian agencies, including the Department of Education headed by Vice President Sara Duterte.

Marcos’ executive secretary defended the vice president’s CIF use but the president did not comment when Congress amended the government’s budget proposal. Maybe the silence has got to do with the fact that the president’s CIF remained intact. All eyes are now on the Senate, and whether it will touch the CIFs of the country’s top two leaders.

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Ex-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte Hints at Return to Politics

Written for The Diplomat

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said that he would come out of retirement if his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, is impeached by Congress.

That lawmakers are deliberating the possibility of cooperating with the ICC could be taken as another indicator of the growing rift between the pro-Marcos and Duterte camps. What is certain is that a Congress resolution endorsing the ICC probe would certainly provoke more hostility from the supposedly retired patriarch of the Duterte political dynasty.

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Published by Bayan Metro Manila

While COVID-19 cases are surging, authorities are brutally demolishing houses in urban poor communities.

As residents adopt safety measures during the pandemic, the DILG treacherously lifted the ban on demolitions which quickly led to the destruction of houses in some barangays in Quezon City and heightened the tension in some areas in Manila and Taguig where demolition threats have been made.

It is inhumane to enforce demolition orders at a time when we are facing a pandemic. The poor lost jobs, livelihood, and are barely surviving while desperately in need of health care and other social services yet authorities are callously allowing the demolition to proceed.

Instead of displacing the poor from their homes, the government should provide relief and other stimulus packages. At the minimum, there should be a moratorium in demolitions while we are reeling from a public health crisis.

The government also demonstrated its bias against the poor as it continues to implement ‘solutions’ intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus but are detrimental to the welfare of the working poor.
Stakeholders should have been consulted about the impact of the uniform night curfew on workers and small businesses in the informal economy.

We deplore the continuing excessive deployment of police in barangays to enforce health protocols. Hard lockdown measures are counter-productive especially if medical solutions are not applied such as systematic mass testing, tracing, and treatment.

The Duterte government’s militarized approach in dealing with the pandemic has proven to be ineffective. It continues to rely on this model because of its criminal negligence in procuring and rolling out enough vaccines for the local population.

Instead of promoting accountability, authorities are spinning the narrative that the poor are pasaway and should be blamed for the COVID-19 surge. Massive arrests targeting ordinary citizens are being carried out. In some communities, restrictions hamper the movement of residents and deprive them of livelihood opportunities. The absurd ‘wall’ erected by Bucor in Muntinlupa exemplifies the repressive and anti-poor policies of the government.

We reiterate our urgent demand to prioritize a science-based, medical approach in addressing the pandemic surge. Government’s response should be transparent, inclusive, and not punitive.
We cannot survive the pandemic as long as the Duterte government is in power. We deserve better than this murderous regime whose only solution is to implement unlimited lockdown measures and silence those who are criticizing the abuses of those in power.

Published by Bulatlat

Biking became necessary during the first month of the pandemic lockdown in 2020 when the government prohibited even jeepneys and tricycles from being out in the streets. It became a lifesaver for frontliners and convenient option for those who needed a faster and safe way to move around the city to access essential services.

In my case, walking would have been fine but the scorching summer heat made it unbearable. I needed to finish my errands quickly in the morning which would require several stops in stores, offices, and banks in nearby barangays. Biking solved the problem plus it allowed me to evade random inspections from overzealous tanods and police in their camouflage uniforms. Later, I realized that pedaling my way around the city was inspired too by a desire to renew my enthusiasm for biking which I last felt during my teenage years in the mid 1990s.

I got a pre-loved folding bike because I was intrigued by the design and amazed by its simplicity and functionality. It saved storage space and can be loaded in taxis and trains. It is convenient for bimodal transport especially during the rainy season. Parking in most malls is free and the added advantage of a foldie is that it can be strolled inside buildings and malls.

Biking boosts the health and a money saver even if you constantly yearn to buy upgrades. It proved to be a wise investment which yielded multiple returns in terms of greater awareness about your body, a more focused mind, enhanced productivity, and a small sense of satisfaction that you are doing something to save the planet one pedal at a time.

As a resident of Metro Manila who seldom visit the provinces, I deem it more rational to bike instead of owning a car amid nonstop increases in oil and gas prices. Biking is a relief instead of enduring the daily “carmageddon”. Car maintenance is expensive while real estate landlords and LGUs have devised ingenious ways of collecting parking fees.

The pandemic lockdown has made the benefits of biking more apparent. The boom in bike sales was accompanied by the expansion of bike lanes and the gradual rollout of infrastructure catered to the growing number of bike riders. This was remarkable considering the insanity and terror induced by Rodrigo Duterte’s militarized lockdown policy.

The fun of biking is undercut by the constant reminder that our roads are unsafe. Major thoroughfares may have bike lanes but this is wishful thinking in most secondary roads. Bike lanes are merely a slim extension of existing roads where potholes, manholes, and even open drainages are often located. It is used too as an emergency lane and frequently “patronized” by motorcycle riders.

As a folding biker, bimodal commute is practical. However, this requires extra patience given the chaotic state of the urban transport system. It is not enough to memorize a route or train station network since it’s more crucial of having an updated mental map of functioning escalators, elevators, and well-maintained parking facilities.

Local and national urban planners will certainly take notice of the growing community of bikers and may this hopefully translate into better services and the building of bike-friendly hubs.

As bikers become more visible on the road, car drivers and even pedestrians are slowly acknowledging that it is not reckless for a two-wheeled vehicle to use the same space dominated by four-wheeled vehicles. Changing mindsets will take time but this can be hastened by the collective assertion of the biking community. This power is seen in the public shaming of irresponsible and arrogant car owners, and can be directed as well to engage authorities and big business owners in drafting policies, blueprints, and long-term investments intended to incentivize bike transport.

There are bike-specific issues that succeeded in rallying the support of riders. And there are broader advocacies that saw bikers lend their voice (and legs) in solidarity with cause-oriented groups. The ongoing conversation about transforming the Metro into a green Metropolis patterned after Europe’s welfare states is an opportunity to highlight that building the ideal city of bikers is more than just a matter of lane conversions and traffic rerouting but linked to fundamental issues such as good governance, comprehensive local development, and community empowerment.

July 2023: Journalists and activists from China and Pakistan targeted by transnational repression, prolonged internet shutdown in Manipur hides extent of communal violence, Cambodia blocked websites after disqualifying the opposition, and defiant Afghan women protested against repressive Taliban policies. Read more

August 2023. Taliban marks its second year in power amid worsening repression targeting women and media, Pakistan adopts several laws designed to enable broader censorship and social media control, and an Australian journalist pens a ‘love letter’ from a Chinese prison. Read more.

September 2023. Across Asia, groups are stepping up their campaigns for access to information amid disturbing enactment of repressive cyber laws. There are several encouraging updates such as an acquittal of Filipino-American journalist Maria Ressa, the revival of banned Cambodian media outlet VOD, and the release of detained journalists in Pakistan, Vietnam and China. Read more.

Written for The Diplomat

The Philippine government will allow the screening of the Hollywood film “Barbie” after arriving at a conclusion that it does not clearly show China’s controversial “nine-dash line.”

Perhaps Filipino legislators should focus on responding to the provocative words of Chinese diplomats instead of interpreting doodles, crayon drawings, and fictional maps in movies.

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Philippine Senate Probes Afghan Refugee Deal

Written for The Diplomat

If the formal request of the United States government is granted, at least 50,000 Afghans fleeing from Taliban rule will soon arrive in the Philippines, where they are expected to stay for at least two months while awaiting their special immigrant visas. Most of the refugees are former employees of the U.S. government in Afghanistan.

But the issue is more than just extending assistance to refugees since there are potentially serious ramifications on security, sovereignty, and transparency in financing. Also, building shelters for those displaced by war is a sensitive topic in a country where decades of local armed conflicts have disrupted the lives of thousands. Some might even think that the government is ready to house foreign refugees while residents in Marawi City, which was attacked by Islamic State-linked groups in 2017, have yet to go home in order to rebuild their houses.

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