Tokhang approach in handling the pandemic

By admin | April 21, 2021

Published by Bayan Metro Manila

The police which enforced Tokhang and terrorized our communities want us to feel safe and cheer ‘arrests without warning’, intensified troop deployment, and repressive lockdown restrictions.
General Archie Gamboa warned the public that police are now ordered to arrest quarantine ‘violators’ without warning as part of the government’s campaign to flatten the COVID-19 curve. He added that police visibility has been enhanced, more troops are now deployed in communities, and they will work with local officials in enforcing quarantine protocols. Gamboa said these measures are being applied because of pasaways who are spreading the virus infection.

There are many disturbing aspects in these pronouncements which are based on wrong premises.

The general is echoing the self-serving Malacanang spin that the cause of rising virus infections is the so-called pasaway who are allegedly violating quarantine rules. He and Palace propagandists are malicious in blaming the public for the continued spread of COVID-19 cases.

What they refuse to admit is that the public health crisis was exacerbated by government shortcomings. Ask the 14 senators who enumerated the many sins of Health Secretary Francisco Duque. And if Duque is liable for failed leadership, the same accusation can be levied against President Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte and the pasaway gang belittled the COVID-19 threat, they refused to order a travel ban against China, they did not conduct mass testing and contract tracing, they did not procure enough protective equipment for frontline workers, and they acted late in establishing testing laboratories and testing centers.
When the pasaway gang got special powers from Congress, they were slow in drafting a comprehensive program on how to roll out medical measures and distributing emergency relief to displaced workers. The delay in the arrival of aid forced many residents and informal workers to seek help and livelihood outside their homes. For those living in congested communities, social distancing is practically impossible to implement.

A militarist lockdown without mass testing became a prolonged detention that does not resolve the COVID-19 outbreak.

Authorities are now hyping the pasaway narrative to make people feel, think, and accept the blame that their actions are causing the spread of the virus. Not the reluctance to conduct mass testing, not the delay in the arrival of aid, but the instinct to feed their families and seek assistance in the community.

Another dangerous assertion of the police is that the overkill deployment of troops will curb the number of infections. The people have been clamoring for mass testing, tracing, treatment, and building of quarantine centers but the government decided instead to send the platoon into our communities. It would have made more sense if the government deployed a battalion of health workers instead of uniformed personnel in boots carrying high powered arms.

Intensified police visibility will add to the anxiety of residents in forced quarantine. After all, it’s not the first time the police invoked public safety to justify their expanded role in local governance. The last time it happened led to bloody Tokhang operations which terrorized communities but did little to end the drug menace.

We fear the Martial Law-type of lockdown restriction is the government’s paranoid preemptive measure to deter people from expressing anger over the non-arrival of aid and the lack of social protection and medical programs in the campaign against COVID-19.
The militarist solution to the pandemic betrays the government’s lack of confidence in addressing the public health crisis. Duterte’s desperate recourse is to impose draconian social control and manipulate people to accept and be grateful for the inadequate assistance the government is providing.

Lacking is the government’s complete strategy in addressing the pandemic. What is the program for those who lost jobs and livelihood? What will the new normal look life for various sectors.
The government can start by listening to the demands of the people. It should remove the bureaucratic gridlock and ensure the fast distribution of relief. It is unacceptable that after more than a month of lockdown imposition, millions have yet to receive the emergency aid from the government.

We reiterate our demands for medical solutions and an inclusive, comprehensive social protection package. We reject Martial Law-type lockdown and other repressive restrictions as a model to fight COVID-19

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Walang Ambag: Duterte’s late night speeches dangerous to public health and democracy

By admin | April 18, 2021

Published by Bayan Metro Manila

The confirmation by military and police authorities that state forces are preparing for a Martial-Law type of lockdown is proof that President Rodrigo Duterte’s late night speeches pose a great danger not only to public health but also to our democracy.

Police and military officials told media that they initiated preparations after hearing the president issuing a directive about the possibility of imposing a measure similar to Martial Law as part of the government’s COVID-19 response.

It is a reminder that when the president talks, his words may carry different meanings for many citizens but for members of the security sector, they constitute a direct order coming from the nation’s commander-in-chief.

Duterte’s incoherence is problematic since ground troops and commanders might enforce an order based on their arbitrary interpretation of the president’s speech.

When Duterte uttered the ‘shoot them dead’ threat and the possible declaration of Martial Law, the public responded by vigorously debating the legality if these orders are carried out. But for the military and police, the president’s words might serve not just a guide but an order to obey.

Is the president making directives through his late night speeches? It appears to be the case based on the announcement of the police and military. It is alarming not only because the seemingly harmless and unfunny ramblings of the president are weaponizing the COVID-19 response, they are also being used as basis to draft policy actions sans public accountability.

The public is tormented by Duterte’s uninspiring speeches which are also bereft of a detailed plan on how the government will address the COVID-19 crisis. Instead, he is abusing his privileged platform to make insane threats and unscientific arguments without providing a transparent report about the status of the government’s overall COVID-19 response.

And now the revelation that police and military forces are not just simply listening but also waiting for specific instructions from their commander-in-chief.

Martial Law preparation exposes the militarist framework of the COVID-19 response. The government is readying more repressive lockdown measures instead of focusing on medical solutions and social welfare programs.

We call on Congress to probe the Martial Law preparation by the police and military. We ask LGUs to remain fast and innovative in distributing aid to their constituents.
We reiterate our call for a comprehensive health-based program to fight COVID-19. This includes mass testing, tracing, treatment, and establishment of quarantine and laboratory centers across the country. Implementation of social protection measures must be a priority, and this requires the immediate elimination of red tape, bureaucratic delay, and partisan intervention.

Our people’s organizations are one with other civic institutions in establishing community initiatives to extend assistance to the needy, even as we continue to protest the slow and inadequate social protection provided by the national government. We are also ready to resist any attempt to subvert our democratic rights.

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The COVID-19 pandemic exposes bankruptcy of neoliberal political economy

By admin | April 15, 2021

Published by Bayan Metro Manila

After decades of privatizing health care, millions are left untreated despite the rapid spread of COVID-19. Hospitals and other public health facilities are managed to raise profits which undermined access to health services. Government subsidies to health and education are slashed. Universal health insurance is oriented to serve the interest of private corporations.

The pandemic gave face to millions of casual workers who lost jobs, informal workers whose livelihoods have been destroyed, and migrant workers who lack social protection benefits. They disprove the claims that neoliberal growth is making societies more prosperous. Their precarious conditions expose how the dominant system is enabled by dispossessing the many.

Unbridled plunder of natural resources has weakened the capacity of many nations which are today mired in extreme poverty and debt. Despite or because of implementing the prescriptions imposed by neoliberal experts and imperialist institutions, many countries today are cash-strapped and their economies are unable to provide the needs of the local population. Governments are struggling to provide emergency aid to constituents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The crisis revealed that we should not rely on the so-called ‘invisible hand of the market’ for our needs but on the quick action of publicly accountable state and civic institutions. That instead of allowing corporations to equate their profit target with the nation’s economic growth, we have to count what really matters to our lives: access to health care and other basic services, food security, and livable communities. It’s time to rethink the doctrine of turning over vital utilities, industries, and services to the private sector. Finally, we must develop a local economy that can address the basic needs of our people, especially in times of emergency.

We recognize, too, that building a resilient society requires good governance and democratic leadership. People empowerment is crucial in making governments work to prioritize the upliftment of workers, farmers, women, and other marginalized sectors of society.

We are in solidarity with International League of Peoples’ Struggle and other organizations as we reiterate our urgent demands in addressing the social impact of the current pandemic. We are one with those who assert that the new normal must lead us to reject the discredited neoliberal model of development and the bankrupt political leadership that controls this system of mass poverty and inequality. We will only heal if we will fight for a different future.

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LGU response to COVID-19

By admin | April 8, 2021

Published by Bayan Metro Manila

We support pro-active LGU response to COVID-19 amid the slow roll-out of mass testing and inadequate delivery of aid by the national government

We support the initiative of several Local Government Units to proceed with localized mass testing as an emergency but essential measure to contain the community transmission of COVID-19.

The national government said it will begin mass testing on 14 April, more than a month after it enforced a lockdown in mainland Luzon. The Department of Health also initially rejected the application of Marikina to set up its own laboratory testing for COVID-19 cases. The reluctance to immediately acknowledge the importance of mass testing and the bureaucratized establishment of testing centers have seriously undermined the overall campaign to contain the spread of COVID-19.

LGUs like Marikina and Valenzuela are justified in partnering with medical institutions in conducting mass testing in their cities.

We urge the government of President Rodrigo Duterte and his subordinates to respect local autonomy. It should extend assistance to pro-active LGUs instead of invoking the misnamed “Bayanihan to Heal As One Act” which penalizes LGU officials who ‘disobey’ national regulations.

We also welcome the announcement of Pasig LGU and other cities that they will shoulder the inadequate aid allotted to them by the national government. This will partially lift the anxiety of many families which have been excluded from the list of beneficiaries under the government’s ‘social amelioration program’.

On the other hand, we assert that the Duterte government should not pass the burden to LGUs and mislead people about the role of local officials in distributing relief. It has the power to suspend pork barrel and unproductive intelligence funds and realign these items to the COVID-19 emergency response.

The slow action and the lack of transparency about COVID-19 statistics, the gridlock in the distribution of subsidy, and the overall plan on how to beat COVID-19 have raised doubts about the government’s capacity and capability to lift the lockdown in two weeks and address the social impact of a prolonged pandemic.

Many people are increasingly frustrated with the government’s failure to properly communicate its strategy in addressing COVID-19. It’s militarist approach in enforcing the lockdown reveals its repressive approach in silencing criticism.

It is in this context that we see the pro-active LGU response as a reflection of the national government’s failure to fulfill its pledge in using the ‘special powers’ granted by Congress to swiftly enact COVID-19 measures. LGUs owe it to their constituents to remain fast and innovative instead of simply waiting for the delayed assistance from the national government.

The people are outraged over the slow-paced implementation of medical measures and the handing out of socio-economic assistance. Bayan-led chapters in many communities in Metro Manila are scheduled to hold a noise barrage protest to reiterate our urgent demands: Cash subsidy for the 18 million families and all those who need it, free mass testing, establishment of local quarantine and laboratory centers, protection for frontliners, lifting of repressive restrictions, and release of political prisoners on humanitarian grounds.

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What Is Bogging Down the Philippines’ COVID-19 Response?

By admin | April 1, 2021

Published by The Diplomat

More than a month after imposing a lockdown in mainland Luzon, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said the order to stay at home will be extended for another two weeks to contain COVID-19.

But as more cases of infection continue to be reported, the authorities have hinted at the possibility of a prolonged lockdown beyond April 30 in a bid to flatten the coronavirus curve.

The president’s spokesperson accused pasaway (reckless) individuals who are allegedly breaking quarantine protocols and risking the further spread of the virus. But this argument puts the blame on quarantined residents while keeping silent on the government’s shortcomings in dealing with the public health crisis.

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Are Schools in the Philippines Ready to Open in a Pandemic?

Published by The Diplomat

The Philippine government’s decision to again postpone the opening of public schools from August 24 to October 5 reflects the difficulties it is encountering in addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When COVID-19 lockdowns were imposed in March across the country, classes in most schools were already ending. Thus, the disruption caused by the pandemic to the learning of most students was minimal.

As the public health crisis intensified, the traditional June opening of classes was moved to August. This was seen by almost all stakeholders as necessary to ensure the safety of students, teachers, and other school personnel. But they also expected that the government would use the postponement to strategize and implement programs that would make it possible to resume classes without triggering further COVID-19 outbreaks.

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Pedagogy of the digitally oppressed

By admin | March 22, 2021

Published by Bulatlat

Under the ‘new normal’ of internet-based learning, those at the margins of society could find themselves struggling against further exclusion.

The concept of access needs further exploration beyond the popular understanding that it is mainly about the installation of broadband networks and distribution of gadgets to the community.

More than the means of providing a formal type of education in a world grappling with a pandemic, there should be a continuing review of what type of knowledge will be the focus of the adjusted curriculum.

The starting point in building a progressive education is recognition of the learner’s ‘cultural capital’. It assumes that every learner has a knowledge of the world that is worthy to be integrated into the schooling process. The student’s language, his ideas about the reality of the present, her struggles in a feudal household – all of these are essential in developing new knowledge and remaking the world.

Will this be the philosophy that will guide educators and technocrats?

Online education introduces a more difficult challenge since the learner has to be capable of coding, uploading, and streaming his worldview. She is allowed to articulate her reality but only in a language (and font) that is available on the internet. A student in a farming village can contribute to defining class topics but he has to present them in a digitized format.

What will be privileged are ideas, themes, and narratives shared by students who are not only able to participate in the online classes but also ready to interact with others because they have rudimentary familiarity with the rules for joining virtual sessions.

They have an advantage over the digitally excluded in unpacking the preprogrammed modules whose content reflects the values in mainstream society.

Education is under threat of being reduced into a mastery of prepackaged learning materials that are stored in downloadable files in the web cloud. Discovery of the new in the near future could simply refer to a browsing experience.

Information is presented in striking visuals, summarized in creative infographics, and standardized in conformity to national and global standards.

Diversity is equated with plural perspectives reacting to popular memes. Hence, the danger of limiting classroom discussions to topics that are viral and trending, even if these do not represent the lives of students. The valid aspiration to be relevant and seen could end up in a frantic race for cyber attention.

This has harmful consequences to students who might wrongly assume that their life stories have to garner social media boosting as a prerequisite for acceptance in society. Or they could disown their local cultures, habits, and ideologies because they diverge from the popular norm They might reject their framing of the world because it does not adhere to existing categories or it is deemed archaic for digital sharing.

The choice of what learning tools will be widely adopted, procured, and deployed should be subjected to critical scrutiny as well. The use of smartphones, laptops, and tablets has been normalized that it’s almost difficult to challenge the assumption that each gadget is fit only for individual usage. The varied IT applications in the community, the communal technologies in preserving local knowledge, the social character of schooling are all subsumed under the narrow technical discourse of making online education work. The sense of what community means might be lost in the rush to implement the individualized internet-guided type of education.

This could have a counterproductive legacy on community empowerment. Young citizens turning into self-obsessed, information-addicted, spectacle-seeking individuals with little or no sense of the grassroots and their liberating potential.

Enabling this looming reality is worship for a technological solution in response to the raging pandemic. What is discarded is the human factor in confronting a crisis. The sustained and systematic mobilization of communities to fight an invisible enemy. Blinded by the unpredictability of the situation, many succumb to fear which force them to put their trust in contactless technologies. When human interaction is suddenly viewed with suspicion, wireless alternatives suddenly become a necessity. This is taking place at a time when the pedagogic role of the internet is still promoted through corporate lens.

Therefore, the future of online education must be reshaped through a comprehensive critique of the political economy of the internet. Unmask the web of monopolies, the networks of surveillance, the economy of inequality that has condemned millions to be invisible and disconnected from the world. This will entail vigorous offline probing that students must undertake with others in the community in order to know the world and change the world.

Will this be the framework of the blended type of learning under the ‘new normal’?

What if the unmentionable aim is to pursue what neoliberal hardliners have been trying to impose through the policy reforms that they have been introducing for many years: establish a depoliticized education system. Remove the social context from the virtual environments of students. Mass produce an army of graduates possessing internet-driven skills required by the global labor market.

A complete negation of what education should be: transformative, radical, political.

Learning as an activity that makes the world knowable through dialogue and praxis. Individual enlightenment realized through the collective assertion of rights.

A reminder to build a stronger movement to derail the conservative agenda of making traditional and online education an instrument of hegemony.

And the antidote to the non-political education of learners is through political organizing. Knowledge of the world is grasped through political empowerment. A community of learners emerging from the margins asserting their voice and autonomy, tapping the power of the networks to build solidarity, and claiming power through struggle and resistance.

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IFEX April 2020 regional briefs

By admin | March 15, 2021

Pandemic exacerbates digital gap and media censorship in Asia-Pacific

An important component in the global campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic is upholding and promoting access to information. Unfortunately, this is severely undermined across the Asia-Pacific region. How can people get reliable data if they are disconnected from communication networks? What happens to media credibility if authorities mandate the reporting of government perspectives on the health crisis? What if news websites are blocked under the guise of combatting disinformation? How can journalists perform their duty without fear if their colleagues are charged under criminal laws for quoting public officials? These are pressing questions based on real cases and unfolding issues across the Asia-Pacific region.

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Voices under lockdown in Asia-Pacific

The COVID-19 pandemic has enabled many governments in the region to ride roughshod over civil liberties. Repressive measures were enacted in the name of addressing a public health crisis. Vulnerable segments of the population found themselves facing not just a virus outbreak but a weaponized regime imposing control and order supposedly for public safety and the common good.

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Bayan Metro Manila decries intensifying police harassment of community relief campaigns and peaceful protests

By admin | February 28, 2021

Published by Bayan Metro Manila

The police should immediately stop its trolling and terror tactics targeting activists and community leaders who are in charge of grassroots relief efforts.

We condemn the rising cases of harassment by state troops in our communities. Officials identifying themselves as DILG and intelligence operatives have repeatedly harassed our members and chapters in Manila for gathering donations and participating in online noise barrage (kalampag) actions.

We reiterate that organizing a community relief activity is not a crime. Participating in a political action highlighting the slow arrival of government assistance is not against the law. We fear that authorities are demonizing these peaceful initiatives as a prelude to a broader crackdown on dissent.

The government is desperate to silence criticism especially after its so-called social amelioration program is quickly being exposed as wholly inadequate, highly selective, and bogged down by bureaucratic inefficiencies. It is outrageous that authorities are more aggressive in harassing activists and filing ludicrous charges against critics instead of fast-tracking the delivery of aid to poor households.

This is the result of the national government’s ill-conceived strategy of militarizing the solution to the COVID-19 public health crisis. It is infuriating that the public health crisis is being resolved through the repressive lens used by law enforcers.

We seek an official investigation into these cases of harassment targeting ordinary citizens and activists.

We are calling for the lifting of the unnecessary lockdown restrictions and instead prioritize the delivery of social welfare programs in our communities.

Background

On March 29, 2020, two police officers “visited” the Bayan Manila office in Balic-Balic. They introduced themselves as operatives from Manila Precinct 4 Intelligence Operative Department. They inquired about the online campaign for a donation drive and the mass testing campaign posted on the Facebook page of Bayan Manila. They warned against fake donation campaigns meant to destabilize the government. When asked why they were in civilian clothing, the police officers answered that they are doing intel work and it isn’t necessary that they be in uniform.

On April 5, 2020, four residents of Barangay 105 in Tondo were summoned by barangay officials accompanied by three ‘DILG’ officers. The residents were told to stop initiating noise barrage actions or else authorities will start conducting arrests in the community.

Bayan Metro Manila has launched Kilusang Bayanihan, a network of people’s organizations that are gathering relief and organizing donation campaigns in various communities.

Bayan Metro Manila is part of the #ProtestFromHome event on March 22 and March 29 which criticized the inadequate assistance from the government. The group is also an organizer of the April 3 Black Friday protest which condemned the arrest of Sitio San Roque residents who protested the lack of government aid. The protest also demanded the immediate granting of economic aid, the deployment of testing kits, and the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

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What it means to be a lockdown protester in the Philippines

By admin | February 13, 2021

Published by Bulatlat

Hint: It has nothing to do with far-right ‘covidiots’ and anti-vaxxers.

Lockdown protests are derided in many parts of the world because of the threat they pose to public health. The deliberate disregard for social distancing rules provokes not just the spite of authorities but also the paranoia of quarantined residents. The organizers themselves expose the questionable political and scientific basis of their actions through their wild conspiracy theories, anti-vaccine conviction, and creepy revival of neo-nazi symbolisms.

This type of protest which has already mobilized several groups in the United States, United Kingdom, and some parts of Europe should not be lumped with the growing discontent in many developing countries. But even in the countries where far-right forces are aggressive and more visible in defying the lockdown policies, there exists a disgruntled segment of the population whose politics are far removed from what the anti-vaxxers are advocating. They deserve to be heard and it is irresponsible to dismiss their dissent as a manifestation of conservative groupthink.

We do not lose the freedom of expression and assembly even during a pandemic. If states enact policies restricting the movement of people aimed at preventing the spread of the virus, it should be temporary, proportionate, and transparent. The restrictions should not undermine the bill of rights. And citizen vigilance is imperative in monitoring the actions of authorities and the government response in battling the pandemic.

The people are justified in resisting unreasonable impositions. Dissent even becomes a citizen duty when the criminal negligence of leaders threatens to harm public safety. Politicians are aware of the public outrage that is why they betray their desperation by applying draconian measures to silence all kinds of criticisms.

What informs the lockdown-related resistance in countries like the Philippines is the people’s frustration and anger over the militarist and brutal approach in enforcing quarantine measures, the delay and inefficiency in extending aid to affected residents, the lack of a comprehensive medical response to contain the virus, the indifference to the plight of the poor, the callous double standard in penalizing so-called violators, and the arrogant refusal to acknowledge the shortcomings and excesses of the government in dealing with the pandemic.

Despite the peaceful conduct of online and offline protests, organized in compliance with social distancing protocols, dissent is viewed with suspicion. Any gathering promoted by activists is accused of harboring an anti-government agenda. Even relief work is criminalized. Surveillance is intensified not for contact tracing but to prosecute critics. Authorities interpret herd immunity as a goal to force people to think and behave like a herd, or else. A counter-narrative is instantly demonized.

During an emergency situation, access to verified information is vital for survival. Authoritarian governments are notorious for restricting information networks. Another tactic is to bombard the public with government pronouncements and directives until contrary views are either sidelined or relegated as unofficial and hence, unfit for wide sharing.

When authorities order people to stay home and strictly obey instructions under the guise of defeating an invisible enemy, majority will probably accept it as necessary. But the consequence of repeating this command on a daily basis is the normalization of state presence and even intrusion into our lives. This is evident in the surveillance apps made mandatory in countries like India, or the overkill deployment of security checkpoints in barangays.

To think and behave differently is to court community backlash. Who needs cyber troops when fellow citizens are policing for the state in the name of upholding the common good? And when conformity is violated, the law is invoked to identify and punish the pasaway (disobedient).

The idea of a social protest during a pandemic is rejected as a nuisance and danger to public security. State reprisal is operationalized as a valid measure to defend public interest. The people’s helplessness is exploited by the government to disarm one of the democratic means to assert power even if the cause of the suffering of many could have been prevented or minimized by effective leadership.

Two months of forced quarantine have isolated us from each other. It has weakened social bonds and other meaningful ties that define our roles in the community. Our daily source of sustenance is delivered by government propaganda which we can’t debate, dissect, and destroy with others without risking state persecution. During the pre-pandemic days, our sense of public duty emanates from the knowledge that our political activities are shaping not just the present but also crucial in the building of a new future. This powerful and liberating idea is slowly being taken away from us by the state which promises to deliver us from the scourge of a deadly virus.

Our hope lies in how we will face the pandemic not as mask-wearing individuals but as a group promoting medical measures, social reforms, and democratic rights. The pandemic demands medical attention, the crisis requires collective political action. It is an invitation to continue talking about the old and new normal, or how the virus of the oppressive social order is unmasked and defeated by the ‘specter’ of the coming liberation.

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A woman’s place is in the resistance: From the Aurat March to Shaheen Bagh

By admin | February 2, 2021

Written for IFEX

Women challenging patriarchy in Pakistan, fighting for democracy in Hong Kong, defying the communications blockade in Kashmir, and leading the sit-in against the CAA in India’s Shaheen Bagh.

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