Philippine Collegian Tomo 94 Issue 15

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN Opisyal na lingguhang pahayagan ng mga mag-aaral ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, Diliman › Huwebes 30 Marso 2017 › Tomo 94 Blg 15

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kultura

DUE TO ONGOING LAND DISPUTES

24 FARMERS KILLED IN 3 MONTHS

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HATOL NI KAMATAYAN

opinyon

NUMBED BY NUMBERS

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EDITORYAL HUWEBES 30 MARSO 2017

ISKO ON THE STREET Sang-ayon ka bang ibalik ang sentensyang kamatayan sa Pilipinas?

Ano po ang sense ng pagbabalik ng death penalty kung 'yung plunder at rape na karumaldumal din na mga krimen at madalas mangyari at laganap sa bansa ay tinanggal?

Siklab laya ANG MALAWAKANG PAMBUBUSABOS sa bayan ang magniningas ng masidhing paniningil nating sambayanan kay Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte.

Nanatiling retorika ang pagbabagong ipinangako ng kaniyang administrasyon.

Ipinagpatuloy lamang ng rehimeng Duterte ang kultura ng karahasang pinaiiral ng estado buhat pa sa mga nagdaang administrasyon, nang ikasa nito ang all-out-war sa kanayunan.

Binalangkas ng Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) ang mga pananalakay sa kanayunan batay sa Oplan Kapayapaan, isang programang kontra-insurhensiyang kaparis ng Oplan Bayanihan na pinairal sa ilalim ni dating Pangulong Benigno Aquino III. Umabot na sa 43 ang pinaslang nito na pawang magsasaka, katutubo, manggagawa, at sibilyan ang mga biktima.

Kamakailan lamang, nagpaulan ng bomba ang AFP sa kabundukan ng Abra at Agusan del Sur na lubhang nakaapekto sa pamumuhay ng mga tao roon. Walang kawala maging ang mga kabataan, naitala ang 15 kaso ng sapilitang pagkampo ng militar sa limang paaralang Lumad simula Pebrero.

Inigpawan ng estado ang pananagutan nitong pangalagaan ang mamamayan sa pagkitil ng halos walong libong Pilipino sa giyera kontra droga. Wala ring katiyakan sa anuman ang mga panukalang ibalik ang parusang kamatayan at pababain ang minimum age of criminal responsibility sa siyam na taong gulang. Palalalain at

gagawin lang nitong lehitimo ang mga nangyayaring extrajudicial killings sa Pilipinas, at magiging pananggalang pa ito ng mga naghaharing uri at ng mga tunay na nagsasamantala sa bayan.

Higit kailanman, walang takot nating ilantad ang mga kabuktutan ng rehimeng Duterte na umaatake sa ating mga karapatan. Mahalaga at kailangang ipatampok ang pinaiigting na panawagan ng paniningil at mga malawakang protesta laban sa mga kontra-mamamayang patakarang ito.

Walang inihaing kongkreto at pangmatagalang solusyon ang pamahalaan upang kagyat na tugunan ang mga suliraning kinahaharap ng bansa. Hindi nito binigyang-pansin ang pagtatatag ng isang malayang patakarang panlabas, na magpapatibay maging sa ating karapatan sa pagmamay-ari ng West Philippine Sea. Pinahihintulutan pa rin ang kontraktwalisasyon sa kabila ng kakulangan sa maayos at ligtas na lugar, mababang sahod, at kawalan ng benepisyo para sa mga manggagawa. Hindi pa rin lubusang naipamamahagi nang libre ang lupa sa mga manggagawang-bukid kahit matagal na nilang binubungkal ito.

Makabuluhan ang pakikilahok ng mamamayan sa nag-iinit na hangaring kamtin ang nararapat na pag-unlad.

Napagtagumpayan ng sama-samang pagkilos ang pag-okupa ng mga maralita

Ricardo Miguel Barba B Music

Ang binigkis na tindig ng mamamayan, tangan ang dunong mula sa iba't ibang sektor ng lipunan, ang magiging tanglaw ng pakikibaka para sa karapatang pantao at hustisyang panlipunan.

sa halos limang libong yunit ng mga nakatiwangwang na pabahay ng gobyerno sa Pandi at San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. Ito rin ang nagpaalab at nagpakilos sa kabataan upang pagpunyaging tamuhin ang karapatan para sa libreng edukasyon sa bansa.

Patuloy rin nating itaguyod ang muling magpapatuloy na usapang pangkapayapaan sa pagitan ng gobyerno at ng National Democratic Front of the Philippines. Tatalakayin sa mga kasunduang nakapaloob dito ang pagsulong sa tunay na repormang agraryo, libreng edukasyon, repormang sosyoekonomiko, at pagkatig sa karapatang pantao na tutugon sa lumalalang kahirapan sa bansa. Tutuldukan din nito ang higit apat na dekadang armadong tunggalian.

Napatunayan na sa mahabang panahon na ang binigkis na tindig ng mamamayan, tangan ang dunong mula sa iba’t ibang sektor ng lipunan, ang magiging tanglaw ng pakikibaka para sa karapatang pantao at hustisyang panlipunan. Saksi nito ang bawat bulwagan at lansangan na naging lunsaran ng iba’t ibang mga kampanya at panawagan.

Mariin nating igiit ang pagtutol sa mga polisiyang pahirap sa mamamayan dahil maling maging kimi sa lantarang pagbabalat-kayo ng rehimeng ito.

Magpapasiklab ang katalampasanan sa nagliliyab na hangaring makamit ang tunay at makatarungang pagbabago. −

Punong Patnugot Karen Ann Macalalad Tagapamahalang Patnugot John Reczon Calay Panauhing Patnugot Mary Joy Capistrano Patnugot sa Kultura Andrea Joyce Lucas Patnugot sa Grapiks Rosette Abogado − Jan Andrei Cobey − Adrian Kenneth Gutlay − Chester Higuit Tagapamahala ng Pinansiya John Daniel Boone Kawani Sheila Ann Abarra − Sanny Boy Afable − Hans Christian Marin − John Kenneth Zapata Pinansiya Amelyn Daga Tagapamahala sa Sirkulasyon Gary Gabales Sirkulasyon Amelito Jaena − Omar Omamalin Mga Katuwang na Kawani Trinidad Gabales − Gina Villas Kasapi UP Systemwide Alliance of Student Publications and Writers’ Organizations (Solidaridad) − College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) Pamuhatan Silid 401 Bulwagang Vinzons, Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, Diliman, Lungsod Quezon Telepono 981-8500 lokal 4522 Online phkule@gmail.com − www.philippinecollegian.org − fb.com/phkule − twitter.com/phkule − instagram.com/phkule − pinterest.com/phkule

Death penalty or mass murdering the poor?

Death penalty is not the solution to the crimerelated problems in the Philippines especially if sobrang obvious naman na mga mahihirap ang target.

Huwag kami.

Dani Ting

BS Psychology

Hindi sagot ang pagpapatupad ng death penalty para bawasan ang kriminalidad sa lipunan. Also, hindi kasama ang rape at plunder? Kalokohan kung para lang sa drug-related crimes. This will not bring justice, especially for the poor.

Nica Dizon BA Sociology

UKOL SA PABALAT Dibuho ni John Kenneth Zapata

huwebES 30 marso 2017

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UPD students, profs denounce approval of GE reform −

Sanny Boy D. Afable

The UP Diliman (UPD) University Council (UC) approved the proposal to reduce the General Education (GE) requirement from the current 45 units to a minimum of 21 despite opposition from professors and students during the special UC meeting at the National Institute of Physics Auditorium, March 20.

In a vote of 302-31 with 44 abstentions, assistant, associate, and full professors composing the UC adopted the motion to revise the current GE program.

In another round of voting, 139 voted for the proposal to cut down the units to a 21-unit core and 0-24 units of electives or program-prescribed courses. A total of 37 voted for a 27- to 45-unit GE program, while 17 voted for a 36- to 45- unit one.

Under the current Hybrid Revitalized GE Program (RGEP), UPD students are required to take 15 GE units from each of the three domains: Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Philosophy, and Math, Science and Technology. The Hybrid RGEP was implemented in 2011 as a substitute to the 2001 RGEP which lacked required core courses such as Kasaysayan 1 and Filipino 40.

UP’s GE program went through several revisions in the past years from 63 units of prescribed courses in 1958 down to 42 units in 1986.

UPD is the last campus to decide for GE reform. The UC rejected the administration’s proposal last year, citing the need for a committee to review the current GE program first. Proposing a 2745 unit GE program, the review committee stressed that GE courses should not duplicate courses in senior high school.

The UP administration proposed the GE reform in October 2013. In the same year, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) released its Memorandum Order 20, reducing the required GE units in colleges from 63 or 51 to 36. College teachers of Filipino courses however

denounced the memo for excluding Filipino in the curriculum.

Various science and engineering departments were also intent on reducing their degree programs from five years to four, and they felt this had to be done by reducing GE units, said UPD Chancellor Michael Tan. While there is nothing wrong with making students more equipped in their particular fields or specialization, it must not come to the detriment of general learning, according to the League of College Councils (LCC) in a statement. The LCC claimed that 92.5 percent of students they surveyed did not agree to the reduction of GE units.

Meanwhile, there is not enough research to support the proposed changes to the GE program because the outcomes of the K to 12 curriculum have yet to be determined, student and faculty alliance UP Sagip GE claimed in a statement.

About 60 percent of mostly young instructors will also be affected and might lose their jobs by the move to reduce GE courses in UPD, said professor Ramon Guillermo of the All-UP Academic Workers’ Union in a forum on March 17.

Reducing GE units will more so produce specialized professionals streamlined to the needs of the international market, following the lack of enough jobs and industries in the country, said University Student Council Chairperson Bryle Leaño.

Around 1.169 million youth are unemployed in 2016, accounting for almost half of the total 2.424 million unemployed Filipinos, 480,000 of which are unemployed college graduates, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The Board of Regents is set to release its confirmation of the UC’s decision on April 5. “(A)ng hamon sa mga UP students ay ipagpatuloy ang laban against the GE reform at magsulong ng nationalist, scientific at mass-oriented na edukasyon,” Leaño said. −

Unfazed Patricia Louise A. Pobre

Maricel Ballon, 32, is just of one the many who would soon watch their family’s livelihood suffer from the jeepney phase out. The Ballon family for the past few years has relied on UP students and staff in their round trips inside the campus all day long. The phase out would severely hinder the family’s income as they cannot afford a loan for the new e-jeep models. Maricel will need to support her family and children’s education with a sari-sari store to endure financial struggles.

19 year-old worker buried alive in UPD pipe laying site −

Camille Guadalupe Lita

A 19-year-old construction worker from Bicol was accidentally buried alive in an excavation site while linking a PVC sewerage pipe, 5pm of March 10 at Jacinto Street, corner Village B, UP Diliman (UPD).

Jonathan Sinangote was trapped in a five-meter deep pit after taking the wrong direction to safety, said 36 year-old Jonar Casinillo, a survivor of the incident.

“Napansin ko pong gumuho na lang bigla ‘yung lupa kaya napasigaw at napatakbo na lang ako,” Casinillo said.

The pipe laying project is part of the massive construction of Maynilad Water Company Inc. (MWCI) in UPD, along with the road and storm system project of the Department of Public Works and Highways that is set to be completed by next semester.

While linking the PVC sewerage pipe, 49-year-old Alejandro Ponce was operating the backhoe digging up the excavation where Sinangote and Casinillo work. Ponce would not notice the collapsing of land if it were not said by another construction worker and onsite Safety Officer Ryan Ingco.

Village B was once an agricultural site, based on the report from UP Diliman Police. UP’s soil composition is varied

based on the land use, said Geology Professor Richard Ybañez.

“The soil may change due to the frequent road repair. For highly urbanized areas [like Village B], hindi natin alam kung paano ba siya tinambakan ng previous developer. It is the developer’s responsibility to take it back properly to avoid uneven roads and accidents,” Ybañez said.

UP officials, the rescue team of Barangay UP Campus, Quezon City Police Station 9, Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit from Camp Caringal, UP Health Service, and Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) were immediately informed after the incident.

Ponce tried to retrieve Sinangote’s body using the backhoe, said SSB Rigor Ortiz who first responded to the incident. Authorities however decided to wait for SOCO which arrived past 8PM, after Ortiz and the witnesses saw the resurfacing lifeless body of Sinangote.

Wounds on Sinangote’s neck, face, chest, and hands were found after the retrieval of his body. His employer E.I. Construction and Development Corporation promised to process his insurance papers.

UP Diliman meanwhile has no liability regarding the incident, said UP Campus

Architect Enrico Tabafunda, one of the UP officials present after the incident.

“Hindi natin contractor ang may hawak sa biktima. May sariling contractors ang MWCI at may sarili silang sinusunod na operational requirements and program.

Wala tayong handle sa operations nila,” Tabafunda added.

The pipe laying operation in the area is indefinitely suspended as part of the labor protocol. Other projects in UPD are still ongoing.

“Mas paiigtingin ng UP ang pagkakaroon ng occupational safety and health awareness [upang maiwasan ulit ang ganitong aksidente],” Tabafunda added.

The said issue is not an isolated case, said Community Rights and Welfare Committee Head Renz Roc of the University Student Council. ”Millions of Filipino workers are exposed every day to dire working conditions.

Alongside the struggle for the security of the workers' tenure is the demand for a safe working environment,” Roc added.

Roc hoped that the issue will be reviewed thoroughly so that those violators of labor rights, if there are any, be made accountable. −

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30 MARSO 2017 BALITA HUWEBES

Due to ongoing land disputes,

24 farmers killed in 3 months VICTIMS OF EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS PER REGION AS OF FEBRUARY 2017

NUMBER OF EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS PER SECTOR BASED ON COMBINED REPORTS AS OF MARCH 26 Victims were identified by sector, some of them were tagged both as a peasant and a member of an indigenous tribe

NUMBER OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS UNDER THE DUTERTE ADMINISTRATION AS OF FEBRUARY 2017

*AS OF MARCH 28

−

SOURCES KARAPATAN, KILUSANG MAGBUBUKID NG PILIPINAS, KILAB MULTIMEDIA INFOGRAPHICS BY JAN ANDREI COBEY

KAREN ANN MACALALAD

TWENTY-FOUR FARMERS HAVE BEEN killed in the first three months of 2017, increasing the death toll of farmers to 43 under President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, according to human rights group Karapatan and peasant alliance Kilusang Magbubukid sa Pilipinas (KMP).

Six middle-aged farmers were killed by unidentified men in separate incidents in Compostela Valley this month alone, a few days shy of the resumption of peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines on April 2 in the Netherlands. The latest victims include Cora Lina, couple Arman and Arlyn Almonicar, Pedro Pendagay, and couple Leonila and Ramon Pesadilla.

Lina and the Almonicars were members of the Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Laak (NAMULAK) and were shot dead by alleged military personnel in two separate incidents on March 27 in Barangay Bollukan. Lina was tagged by the military as a supporter of the New People’s Army and was repeatedly invited by the 60th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army (IBPA) camp for interrogation, according to Karapatan.

60th IBPA executive officer Major Michael Candole denied involvement of the military in the killings, according to report of the Philippine Daily Inquirer on March 28.

Two military men from the 46th IBPA were also allegedly behind the killing of Pendagay who was gunned down

on March 23 in his home in Barangay Anitapan. Pendagay was a member of the Golden Valley Banana Planters Association and was actively reclaiming parcels of land controlled by banana plantation companies and opposing the entry of Australia-based mining group One Asia Resources in their town, KMP stated.

Meanwhile, the Pesadillas, killed on March 2, were members of Compostela Farmers Association, an anti-mining farmers’ organization opposing the entry of large-scale mining and Cojuangco-owned Agusan Petroleum Corporation in the area.

The spate of farmer killings under the Duterte administration is due to the ongoing land disputes and struggle of the peasants which call for the implementation of a genuine agrarian reform in the country, KMP Secretary General Antonio Flores said.

Killing spree Just after two weeks since Duterte assumed his presidency, three Higaonon farmers from Sumilao, Bukidnon were killed by hired guards of Ram Car, Inc. last July 12. The said company occupied the 2,400-hectare ancestral land of the Higaonan tribe in Barangay Lupiagan, according to Karapatan.

A second massacre was recorded a month after when armed goons affiliated with Palayan City Mayor Adrianne Mae Cuevas opened fire against farmers of

the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation in broad daylight last September 3.

Four farmers were killed in the incident: Baby Mercado, Violeta Mercado, Eligio Barbado, and Gaudencio Bagalay.

The victims were part of a collective farming activity or “bungkalan” system inside the 3,100-hectare disputed land of Fort Magsaysay, according to Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid ng Gitnang Luzon (AMGL). Two of the farmers, Barbado and Bagalay, had their homes in Gabaldon town buried in a landslide during the Habagat rains in 2015 before they tilled parcels of land in Fort Magsaysay.

While the land was already awarded in 1991 to farmers and victims of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, harassment cases and threats remain unabated, Karapatan stated. The military has yet to distribute the lands to beneficiaries due to the inaction of concerned government agencies and blatant land-grabbing of political clans, the group claimed.

“Sa araw at gabi naalarma kami lagi.

Inaagapan namin [ang panganib]. Mamaya may lalapit sa amin na mamamaril kahit na araw gumagapas kami o nagbibiko ng tatamnan namin ng kamote,” said 48-year old Ellen Madayag, one of the survivors.

Madayag chose to stay in the area since farming is her family’s primary source of income. “Gusto rin naming mabuhay sa

pamamagitan ng pagtatanim kasi wala kaming sariling lupa. Mga kasamahan ko nga, kailangan ng malilipatan kasi binabaha sila; natatabunan ng mga bato [ang mga bahay nila],” Madayag said.

Attack against national minorities In addition to the peasant sector, the indigenous groups remain to be among the primary targets of state killings and harassments under the Duterte term. Of the 36 farmers killed as of February, 17 are indigenous people, Karapatan stated.

On February 3, three men riding a motorcycle fatally shot Lumad leader Renato Anglao, secretary-general of the Tribal Indigenous Oppressed Group Association (TINDOGA). An organization of the Manobo-Pulangion tribe in Bukidnon, TINDOGA opposed the operations of agribusiness plantations in their land and was able to secure the land's title in 2015.

A total of 87 cases of attacks affecting 606 students among 47 Lumad schools in Mindanao were recorded since July, according to the Save Our Schools (SOS) Network. Cases include harassment and red-tagging of teachers, military encampment in schools and public places, and threats of closure of alternative schools.

On March 24, Salugpongan Community Learning Center director Ronie Garcia was held and interrogated by plain-clothed soldiers along with his group after they

attended a school ceremony in Barangay Palma Gil, Talaingod. Garcia has been the subject of harassment by military in the past two months, according to SOS. End all-out-war None of the perpetrators of the killings were held accountable by the government, Flores said. "Parang may lisensya sila sa pagpatay lalo na sa kanayunan na walang [batayang] serbisyo."

While the resumption of peace talks on April 2 to 6 provides a venue for the discussion of free land distribution to farmers, Duterte cannot control the operations of military and paramilitary groups who sabotage the course of the negotiations, Flores added.

Karapatan recorded 14 victims of extrajudicial killings and 439 cases of illegal arrests from August 21 to January 31 despite the unilateral ceasefire declaration of the government on the same period.

Flores demanded the military troops to pull out their forces from the peasant communities and called for the government to fairly distribute lands to end the decadelong struggle of peasant workers.

“Ang pangunahing problema sa ating bansa ay usapin sa lupa. Ang patayang umiiral ngayon, hindi ito solusyon [kundi] isa lang pamamaraan upang takutin ang mamamayan,” Flores said. −

HUWEBES 30 MARSO 2017

SA SILONG NG LUPA Chester Higuit

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Pangunahing kabuhayan ni Joseph Isip, katutubong Ayta sa Nabuclod, Floridablanca, Pampanga, ang pag-uuling tuwing tag-araw kung kailan hindi mainam ang pagtatanim buhat ng kawalan ng sistema ng irigasyon sa kanilang lupa. Inaabot ng isang buwan ang buong trabaho mula pagpuputol ng puno, pagsusunog, hanggang sa pangungolekta, kung saan kumikita siya ng P2,000-P3,000 sa pagbebenta.

Aniya, mga unat (hindi katutubo) ang nagtatakda ng presyo ng kanilang uling, lalo na kung may utang ang mga katutubo sa kanila.

In Defense of Dissent

Uncovering Human Rights Watch's call for foreign intervention in the Philippines −

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN HUMAN Rights Watch (HRW) reported on the cases of human rights violations in the Philippines, that it relied heavily on ground reports and documentation made

by Karapatan. Those were badly difficult times. Cases of rights violations were reported one after another, sometimes simultaneously from different areas. The Filipino people, amid threats, braved those storms. They prevailed.

Years and regimes after, the situation remains the same. There is still a statesponsored war against the people—the organized among them are tagged as “enemies of the state.” There is a “war on drugs” that targets the poor people, while the big drug lords and syndicates remain scot-free. Here comes HRW again, reporting on the thousands of cases of extrajudicial killings, and then went on criticizing Karapatan, declaring that the organization has allegedly decided that “the victims are not worth protecting” and it has failed to speak out against the killings.

It is actually no wonder that HRW singled out Karapatan. Many have done the same, either to praise or malign,

recognize or discredit the organization – be it the past regimes, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the United Nations and many international organizations.

We believe it is, in fact, a recognition of Karapatan’s vast and comprehensive work in defending people’s rights. It takes pride not in the acclamation of its work, but in how it can effectively support peoples, the poor and oppressed in the Philippines and in other countries.

Karapatan and its human rights workers go beyond documentation and research. They go to the affected areas not as messiahs or doomsayers but as one with the struggling people. They work on limited resources and elude attacks and threats from armed forces implementing state-sponsored terror. When one is exposed to such, who would not fear?

Yet, greater is their courage that they work, with full understanding, that each case of violation is part of a greater whole.

They work in-context, that ours is a society that systematically represses people who fight for their rights, uses the state machinery to silence the people, against the ruling elite and their foreign masters. This

MA. CRISTINA ANGELA GUEVARRA

comes from the conviction that the people’s struggle for liberation is our struggle too.

What made Karapatan’s work to be amid discernment and dissent, is not their credit alone. They draw strength from the widows and surviving kin, the families, the people who search for justice for the slain, the disappeared and the imprisoned, whether they may be relatives by blood or brothers and sisters in the struggle. Knowing and understanding that the struggle is not theirs alone, then victims become activists and take an active part in confronting the greater injustice of a rotten society that kills farmers, national minorities, workers, members of urban poor communities so it can maintain its “peace.”

Karapatan and the progressive people’s movement believe that it is only through organizing and mobilizing the broad masses that change can truly come. This makes Karapatan distinct from any part of the whole spectrum of “civil society” and so-called human rights organizations both here and abroad. While others conduct finance-generating “projects” (trainings, workshops, talk shops, roadshows, lobbying, report-writing, and others in

the non-government organization world), progressive organizations like Karapatan hold these activities, and more – with or without international grants – as means to organize peoples.

Does HRW just want human rights groups in the Philippines, especially Karapatan, to speak out against the killings? Karapatan and the progressive people’s movement have actually done better. It’s not as if HRW has not read the statements and seen or heard the mass actions of the people's progressive movement condemning drug-related killings. It consciously let out a malicious lie to discredit Karapatan and the people it represents and serves.

In truth, HRW does not criticize the “silence” on extrajudicial killings under the Duterte government’s all-out war, but it uses such to lead to its ultimate motive. HRW drumbeats a dangerous proposition that the Philippines needs intervention of foreign governments. Their stance is to belittle the people’s ability to fight for their rights.

Not surprisingly, calling for foreign intervention to solve the killings in the Philippines is the same mouthful we have

heard in the context of the ongoing civil war in the country. This is the kind of intervention that has galvanized the US “war on terror” in the Philippines, and is being implemented one Oplan (operation plan) after another, like the Aquino regime’s Oplan Bayanihan and Duterte’s Oplan Kapayapaan.

Recognizing that the drug problem is a socio-economic issue, the Filipino people have more than enough reasons to stand, cease to become victims and organize themselves to fight a common enemy.

Again, to struggle for the people’s rights is to struggle with them, with the support and solidarity of the peoples of other nations, not intervention. (First of three parts). −

Ma. Cristina Angela Guevarra is the former secretary general, and currently board member of Hustisya (Victims United for Justice) which is a national organization of victims of human rights violations, relatives and friends of victims. She served as a news writer for the Philippine Collegian, and convenor of Tanggulan Youth Network for Human Rights and Civil Liberties.

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GRAPIX

HUWEBES 30 MARSO 2017

Sa kabila ng paglalakas-loob ng mga pamilyang nagbakasakaling magkabahay sa Pandi, hindi matanggal sa mga mata nila ang takot na mapaalis at mapahamak. Sa huling linggo ng Marso, tumulak ang mga armado at naka-unipormeng mga militar upang magpaskil ng mga abiso sa mga mamamayan na lisanin sa agarang panahon ang mga tahanan.

Unang inilaan para sa mga sundalo sa Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) ang mga pabahay na ito sa ilalim ng Administrative Order No. 9, s. 2011 ng dating pangulong Benigno Aquino III. Subalit inayawan ito ng mga sundalo buhat ng maliit na espasyo ng bawat yunit at sa layo nito sa kanilang trabaho, ayon sa paliwanag ni Commander Elpidio Trinidad Jr., tagapangulo ng AFP Housing Board, sa isang pagpupulong sa pagitan ng Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), Bise Presidente Leni Robredo, at mga opisyal ng AFP, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, at Bureau of Jail Management and Penology hinggil sa mga pabahay.

SILO −

CHESTE

NAGSIMULA ANG “OCCUPY BULACAN” NANG silungan nang mahi mga pabahay sa Pandi, Bulacan noong ika-walo ng Marso, kasabay ng sinimulan ng ilang pamilya ang pagpoproseso ng legal na dokumento okupahin ang espasyong pinagkakait ng pamahalaan. −

Nagbigay pa ang pamahalaan ng 30 porsiyentong bawas sa buwis mula sa kita ang mga kompany Development Co., na gumawa ng mga pabahay sa Villa Elise at Pandi Heights II;ang Atlantica Realty a Village II; at Lak-K Builders Company na gumawa naman sa Pandi Residences III sang-ayon sa Urban pananaliksik ng Pinoy Weekly.

Umaabot sa P20.78 bilyon ang pondong inilaan sa pabahay, sa ilalim ng Public-Private Partnership. Binigyan ng pamahalaan ang mga kompanyang kasangkot sa proyekto ng exemptions sa mga buwis tulad ng: capital gains tax sa mga lupaing ginamit sa proyekto; value-added tax para sa kontraktor ng proyekto, transfer tax para sa raw at nakumpletong proyekto, at donor’s tax para sa mga lupaing sertipikado ng lokal na pamahalaan na binigay na para sa mga proyektong pabahay ng gobyerno, ayon sa tala ng independent think tank na IBON Foundation.

ONG

#OCCUPYPABAHAY

Isa ang pamilya ni Giezel Bernal, 18, sa mga lumipat sa Pandi mula Bocaue, Bulacan.

Malaking pasanin sa kaniyang pamilya nila ang binabayaran sa dating inuupahang tirahan na umaabot sa P2,000 kada buwan, dagdag pang nakatakda siyang pumasok sa senior high school kasabay ang dalawang kapatid na nasa elementarya.

Tahanan lamang ang tanging hiling ng mga pamilya roon, ayon sa mga nakapanayam ng Collegian. Napakahirap umupa ng tahanan lalo na kung nagpapaaral ng mga anak, at walang regular na trabaho at mababa ang sweldo ng mga naghahanap-buhay sa pamilya, na umaabot lamang sa mahigit P450 kada araw.

ER HIGUIT

igit 5,000 maralitang walang sariling tahanan ang nakatiwangwang na g paggunita sa Pandaigdigang Araw ng mga Kababaihan. Matagal nang para sa mga tahanan, subalit nang walang mapala, napilitan na silang

yang kabahagi ng konstruksyon, gaya ng JC Uyecio Construction and and Development Corp. na siyang gumawa naman ng pabahay sa Pandi Development and Housing Act (UDHA) o Republic Act 7279, ayon sa Tanging isa’t isa ang sinasandalan ng komunidad ng mga maralita na napiling sumilong sa mga bakanteng tahanan sa Pandi. Isa sa mga grupong naroroon ay mga pamilyang mula sa Navotas na napiling sumama sa “occupy Bulacan” upang magkaroon ng sariling tahanan. Ilan sa kanila ay biktima ng demolisyon at napilitang umupa nang mahal na sisilungan sa kamaynilaan, nang walang regular na trabaho at mataas na sweldo. Anila, basta’t sama-sama, ipagpapatuloy nilang ipapanawagan ang tuluyang pagkakaloob sa kanila ng mga bakanteng pabahay.

Mga Kuha nina John Reczon Calay at Chester Higuit Disenyo ng Pahina ni John Reczon Calay

8

−

LATHALAIN

HUWEBES 30 MARSO 2017

DANIEL BOONE

THE DEATH TOLL HAD TO RISE TO a whopping 7,000 before President Rodrigo Duterte ordered for the temporary halting of his war against drugs. But only one month after, it was back on track, fiercer, and more violent with the military helping the police in their operations. People are continuously being killed, most of them left unidentified, aside from inscriptions on a cardboard beside their bloodsoaked cadaver: drug pushers.

Yet as the staggering pace of almost 1,000 deaths per month commences, lives are being reduced to statistics.

The grim reality of how the poor are easily tagged by perpetrators as drug traffickers remains untold—like what happened on August 21, 2016 in a police operation in an urban poor community in Payatas, Quezon City.

Five were shot in a small shanty.

Three of them hogtied, handcuffed, shot, and immediately died. One knelt before his executioner, begged for life, but a bullet still landed on his back. The last one received gunshots in the chest but miraculously survived to tell their story: how the police came to them and claimed the lives of his friends.

Dressed to kill Efren Morillo was a fruit vendor in a nearby town, who just visited his friend Marcelo Daa to collect money. It was 2:30 in the afternoon when seven men who said they were the police raided Marcelo’s home and searched for illegal drugs. They neither had any search warrant, nor even dressed in police uniforms, Efren recounted.

No drugs were found, Efren said, but the police handcuffed and shot them, execution style. Efren was the only one who survived, saying it was sheer dumb luck. The bullets hit the space between his ribs and his lungs, that any difference in the angle of the gun’s nozzle before the trigger was pulled would have ended up killing him.

Efren, lying face-down on the ground, playing dead, did not see how Marcelo and his friends were killed. All he knew was he heard several consecutive gunshots and one of the cops saying: “Tumawag kayo sa SOCO (Scene of the Crime Operatives)…Iwanan niyo ng shabu.”

Yet, according to the incident’s official report, the police found Efren and his friends in the middle of a pot session.

This is how the cops easily justified the killings as a

legitimate encounter: “nanlaban!” said Atty. Gil Anthony Aquino from Center for International Law (Centerlaw), a group of human rights lawyers.

But autopsy reports revealing the bullets were all fired downwards only indicate that the victims were all helpless when they were shot.

“Ganito ka-brazen ang mga perpetrators [dahil] may quota sila every week na ito-tokhang, buhay [man] o patay,” said Atty. Cristina Antonio of Centerlaw.

Aim and shoot All the victims were scavengers, barely making P200 every day, struggling to make ends meet.

“Nagbabasura lang kami, saan [kukuha ng pang-drugs] ang anak ko?” cried Nanay Belen Daa, Marcelo’s mother.

Marcelo’s family had to hold a twoweek long wake to gather enough funds for his funeral.

Nanay Belen is now left to take care of Marcelo’s wife and three children, one of whom is a grade-six student who suffered from trauma upon witnessing the bloodbath inside their home. “Dapat

ikinulong na lang nila kung totoong may kasalanan…

Hindi pala pantay ang gobyerno. Ang mahirap lalong pinahihirapan,” Nanay Belen said.

Several months after the incident, justice remains elusive to their families.

All that were killed or hurt throughout the duration of Duterte’s drug war are not merely victims of violence: they are victims of a culture of impunity perpetuated by the ones in power.

The cops that assaulted Efren and his friends remain at large despite admitting all raps filed against them in court.

They were just reassigned to other units, receiving no real punishment at all, Antonio said. “[Nakikita natin] na hindi talaga [pabor] ang batas sa ordinaryong mga mamamayan,” Antonio added.

Even Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Ronald dela Rosa acknowledged there are “rogue cops” and called for “cleansing” among their ranks. However, with 82 percent of Metro Manila residents feeling “safer” with the drug war according to a recent Pulse Asia survey, the police said they would continue their campaign against illegal drugs.

But the government should end the reign of impunity and hold top officials accountable if they are serious in reforming the PNP, said militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) in a statement.

Reloaded Human rights lawyers constantly help the likes of Efren in legal battles against their culprits. But with the current fashion of our justice system that favors those in power and biased against the aggrieved, filing

cases in the court undoubtedly will not be the end-all and be-all of the quest for justice for the casualties of the government’s war against drugs.

“The human rights story is the victim’s story… The victims should be the locus of human rights discourse, interaction, and real action,” Antonio said.

Efren believed that PNP’s Oplan Tokhang kills only the poor, further pushing them down the margins of the society. The victims of the spate of killings include users, pushers, accused traffickers, children, and civilians, and mostly coming from the urban poor communities, according to a statement by human rights group Karapatan.

“Many of them use drugs to temporarily escape from their unaddressed problems of hunger, joblessness… The easy case that drug trade offers is too tempting for the hungry,” the group added. Duterte failed to bring the change he promised especially to the innocent victims of the killings he advocated. The only way to address the country’s perennial problem on drugs is also to address poverty that proliferates it.

For Nanay Belen, their story is never over. The war on drugs may not be over, but so is their resistance to the narrative that the government is creating—a story of struggle that is more powerful than any gun and other means of a fascist regime. − * Apologies to George R. R. Martin

Illustration by Chester Higuit Page Design by John Reczon Calay

huwebes 30 marso 2017

KULTURA

9

Hatol ni Kamatayan −

Sheila Abarra

Mga duguang larawan ng mga bangkay sa lansangan at boses ng mga pamilyang tumatangis ang pangkaraniwang agahan ng mga Pilipino sa telebisyon.

Sa ilalim ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte, mahigit pitong libong bilang na ang mga napatay sa ilalim ng Operasyong Tokhang nito—karamihan, mula sa mga maralitang pamayanan at tinatayang suspek pa lamang.

Bitbit ni Duterte ang pangakong pagsugpo sa droga at krimen sa loob ng anim na buwan, ngunit nananatili pa rin itong malaking isyu sa bansa kung saan malaya ang tinatayang mga druglord. Natigil lamang ang paglunsad ng giyera laban sa droga nang mabiktima ang Koreanong negosyanteng si Jee Ick-joo, ngunit sa muling panunumbalik nito, tila lulubha pa ang sitwasyon sa pagnanais ng kasalukuyang administrasyon na ibalik ang pagpapataw ng parusang kamatayan.

Sa mismong simula ng panahon ng Kwaresma, muling naipasa ang House Bill (HB) Number 4727 o death penalty nang katigan ng 217 mambabatas ang bersyong naglalayong hatulan ng parusang kamatayan ang mga taong nasasangkot sa kaso ng droga. Unti-unting minamanhid ng estado ang taumbayan: binibilang na lamang ang mga bangkay sa tila sementeryong kalagayan ng bansa.

Garote Nabuhay ang tao na may kamalayan na sa konsepto ng kamatayan. Makikita maging sa Bibiliya ang paglalarawan ng hatol na ito nang patawan si Hesus ng parusang kamatayan sa pamamagitan ng pagpapako sa kaniya sa krus.

Hanggang ngayon, buhay na buhay ang diwang ito tuwing Semana Santa kung saan binabalikan ang aral ng pagsasakripisyo ni Hesus bilang simbolo ng katubusan ng kasalanan ng taumbayan.

Noong unang panahon, isinasagawa ang parusang kamatayan sa pamamagitan ng paglubog sa ilog at pagpaso sa kumukulong tubig para sa mga kaso tulad ng pagnanakaw at pagkakaroon ng kalaguyo kung may asawa.

Nang dumating ang mga dayuhan tulad ng mga Espanyol, bitbit nila ang kultura ng pagpapataw ng parusang kamatayan mula sa Europa.

Halimbawa na lang ang makasaysayang GomBurZa na pinatay sa pamamagitan ng paggarote at si Jose Rizal na binaril sa Luneta

hanggang sa mamatay.

Mga sumasalungat sa namamayaning sistema ng mga makakapangyarihan ang mga napapatawan ng parusang kamatayan. Nagpakalat si Hesus ng ideya na siya ang hari ng mga Hudyo at hindi ito naaayon sa sistema ng mga namumuno noon, gayundin, may mga akdang sinulat sina Rizal at GomBurza na mapanghimok lumaban sa mga Espanyol.

Nagkaroon ng serye ng pagbabago sa pamamaraan ang parusang kamatayan. Sa muling pagbabalik nito, maituturing na dadanas ang mga Pilipino nang mas matinding sigalot dahil lantaran at may layong gawing ligal ang walang habas na pagpatay sa mga Pilipinong itinuturing na sangkot sa paggamit ng ipinagbabawal na gamot.

Protektado pa ng aprubadong death penalty bill ng kasalukuyang administrasyon ang mga gaya nilang may kakayahang lumabag sa kasong pandarambong na wala sa panukalang batas. Sa kabila nito, tutol pa rin sila sa bill upang makuha ang simpatya ng taumbayan na karamihang tutol din.

Ito ang monopolyo ng kapangyarihang nilalaro at patuloy na pinaglalaruan, kasabay ng sistema ng hustisya sa bansa.

Silya-elektrika Panahon pa nina dating Pangulong Fidel Ramos at Joseph Estrada nang huling ipagpatuloy ang pagpapataw ng parusang kamatayan. Ngunit natigil man ang palisiyang ito sa simula ng panunungkulan ni dating Pangulo Gloria Arroyo, nagpatuloy ang serye ng pamamaslang— patunay ito na hindi namamatay ang pagnanais ng mga makapangyarihan na mapasakamay ang kontrol sa kapangyarihan.

Bumugso ang biktima ng extrajudicial killings sa panahon ni Arroyo kung saan 1,206 ang napaslang, habang 333 naman sa ilalim ni dating Pangulo Benigno Aquino III. Mga karaniwang taong salat sa batayang serbisyo at aktibong kumikilos ang primaryang target ng mga pamamaslang: mga magsasaka, manggagawa, katutubo at iba pa.

Tinatangka naman ng administrasyong Duterte na gawing ligal ang pamamaslang—isa ang death penalty sa mga instrumento ng mga maykapangyarihan upang mapanatili ang opresyon sa mga mahihirap at katutubo.

Layon umano ng parusang kamatayan na pagbayarin ang mga nagkakasala, ngunit hindi ito patas sa lahat ng uri dahil mahihirap na walang kakayahang lumaban ang karaniwang biktima.

Sa kasalukuyang bersyon ng death penalty, hindi kasama ang lahat ng karumal-dumal na krimen, gaya ng pandarambong at sedisyon. Nananatiling malaya samakatuwid ang gaya ni Janet Napoles na nagnakaw sa pampublikong pondo, gayundin ang mga pampublikong opisyal na sangkot sa korupsyon.

Higit pa rito, ginamit ang isyu ng parusang kamatayan ng mga makakapangyarihan upang magbalik at buhayin ang kani-kanilang pangalan at posisyon sa gobyerno gaya ng asawa ng dating diktador na si Imelda Marcos at ni Arroyo.

Kabilang sila sa hindi sumang-ayon sa pagbabalik ng death penalty bill, gayong mababakas pa rin sa bansa ang kalunos-lunos na pagpatay na iniwan ng rehimeng Marcos at pagabswelto kay Arroyo mula sa mga kaso ng korupsyong kinasangkutan nito.

Iniksyon Ganap ang dikotomiya sa pagitan ng makapangyarihan at nasa laylayan ng lipunan sapagkat hayagan ang pagkatalo ng mga mahihirap na tila inaasinta ng “giyera” ng pangulo.

Droga umano ang kalaban ni Duterte ngunit malayang nakalalabas-masok ng bansa ang mga drug lords, habang patuloy na nangamamatay ang mahihirap at marginalisadong inakusahang nagtutulak ng droga.

Walang kakayahang ipagtanggol ng Pilipinong mahirap ang kaniyang sarili sa ganitong klaseng sistema, tinaniman man siya ng droga o hindi, may ransom man o wala. Hindi patas ang tunggalian kung walang kakayahang lumaban ang kabilang panig kaya walang hustisyang naibibigay sa napakaraming biktima ng paglabag sa karapatang-pantao.

Ito ang baluktot na paniniwalang pinalulutang ng kasalukuyang administrasyon dahil malayo sa hustisya ang kawalan ng pagdurusa ng maysala. Sa katunayan, mas malinaw na nais lamang gawing legal ang walang-habas na patayan.

Sa kabila nang lumalalang sitwasyon, hindi nakapagtataka kung bakit walang ganap na tuwirang aksyon ang taumbayan dahil sa kakulangan ng pag-unawa sa konsepto ng kamatayan. Halimbawa nito si Senador Manny Pacquiao na pabor sa parusang kamatayan sa kabila ng nananatiling ang tindig ng simbahan na hindi dapat ito ipagpatuloy sapagkat labag ito sa kautusan ng Diyos.

Kung babalikan ang nilalaman ng Bibliya, nariyan ang Semana Santa na paggunita at pag-alala sa pagkamatay ni Jesus, upang mabawasan ang mga pagkakasala.

Gayunman, naiiwan lamang sa mga tradisyong gaya ng pag-aayuno ang lahat, sa halip na suriin at ikawing ang kaganapan sa kasalukuyang kalagayang panlipunan.

Sa tuwing may inang namamatayan ng anak na inakusahang tulak ng droga, lumulutang ang nakasaad sa Bibliyang hapis ng Mahal na Birhen sa namatay na si Hesus, ngunit walang nangangahas ipaglaban ang hustisya at naiiwan ang pinsala sa mga namatayan.

Nasa yugto na tayo na mas malawak ang pag-unawa sa mga isyu ng lipunan kaya naman wala ng lugar ang paurong na pamamaraan sa pagkamit ng hustisya.

Kahingian ng panahon na maging mapanuri ang taumbayan sa mga ipinapanukala ng administrasyon. Gaya ng milyun-milyong inang nauulila sanhi ng mga pagpatay ng bulok na sistema ng hustisya, tatangis din ang Inang Bayan sa patuloy na karahasang dinaranas ng bansa. −

Dibuho ni John Kenneth Zapata

Disenyo ng pahina ni Jul Yan Espeleta

10

opinyon

huwebes 30 marso 2017

Numbed by numbers −

Sanny Boy D. Afable

Solve: 2,609 + 1,475.

The answer is the combined number of people killed by the police in Oplan Tokhang, and the number of drug-related killings outside police operations across the country in the first nine months of the war on drugs. Why should we care when this figure—4,084* is but a statistically negligible 0.00004 percent of our 104 million population?

I have been spending years of complex calculations only to be bombarded today by the simplest of maths: about 18 drug-related killings were recorded each day, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas recorded 43 political killings in the countryside, and the president even made an election promise to kill “100,000 criminals.”

Suddenly, people have almost accustomed themselves to lives being reduced to mere statistics, subjects of lifeless calculations of collateral damage. The death count in the war on drugs has become a measure of “development” like an economic index.

My aspiration to be a statistician comes with my conviction that

numbers do not lie, but I believe these statistics will get us nowhere near the truth when they only drive us numb.

The irony—or the “fundamental deficiency” as a psychologist puts it—of our very humanity is that we can care for a few people, say, an image of a mother hugging his murdered son in the streets, but not for thousands of people killed whose families are left broken and crying for justice.

But is it really the numbers that are heartless?

Powers that be set the number race, and they set aside what these numbers truly represent. It is true that 392 is too high a number of political prisoners for the government to set free from jail.

However, it is also true that many of these prisoners were incarcerated for trumped-up charges, and they should not be treated as “political cards” by the president.

When the government said there are 1.3 million drug users, it meant to suggest that the arrest and death of these drug users are necessary to “cleanse” society. Never mind how poverty, and drug use and pushing are

The tragedy is not the statistics, but how we perceive the lives these numbers are supposed to represent.

highly correlated.

The tragedy is not the statistics, but how we perceive the lives these numbers are supposed to represent.

While numbers should remain vital to the discussion of national progress, there are stories yet to be heard and cannot be told in graphs and statistics. A fifth or 21.6* percent of the population in 2015 live below the poverty line, and no matter how I try to be proficient in statistics, I cannot “estimate” their true conditions unless I immerse in their struggle.

Behind the “success” of the war on drugs, a five-year-old kid was shot dead, a class loses one good student, and a family will forever long for a breadwinner. I should care about the 4,084 killed not just because it is a staggering death count, but because I care about life.

Despite holding truth in themselves, numbers cannot speak up. But we can. −

*Vera Files as of March 24, 2017 *Philippine Statistics Authority

Retorika ng ina mo −

Sheila Abarra

Wala naman talagang pruweba ang nanay ko noon na may lalabas na pari o kanin ‘pag ginalaw ko ang sugat ko, pero naniwala ako. Ito ang aking ginagamit na alas sa aking paglaki sa tuwing makikipagsugal ako sa nanay ko sa usapin ng kredibilidad ng kaniyang mga sabi-sabi. Gayunman, higit pa sa taglay na hiwaga’t sining ng pagsisinungaling ng mga nanay, hindi mawawala ang kapangyarihan niyang itakda na kahit anong gawin mo, siya pa rin ang masusunod.

May mga pagkakataong nanalo ako sa litanya ni Inay na batas sa aming bahay. Noong nanonood kasi kami ng balita sa TV, isa siya sa mga naguguluhan sa pagpanig hinggil sa pagtanggi ng Commission on Appointments (CA) sa mismong pagtatakda at mga panukala nina Social Welfare and Development Secretary Judy Taguiwalo and Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano.

Wala rin kasing panig si Inay sa natigil at muling naibalik na peace talks o usapang pangkapayapaan sa pagitan ng gobyerno at ng Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas. Hindi ko tuloy maiwasang maisip ang hindi rin pirming desisyon ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte kung kaya iniwan niya

Kailangang matutunan ng bansang tanungin ang pangulo upang makawala sa malalabong argumento na nagpapaigting lamang ng interes sa kapangyarihan.

sa CA ang pagpapasya sa kung saan madedestino ang dalawang kalihim.

Hindi lamang sina Secretary Taguiwalo at Mariano ang tinanggihan ng CA; nariyan din sina Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., Environment Secretary Regina Lopez, at Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial. May kani-kaniya silang isyung kinakaharap at tila isang malaking teleserye na ang mga balita sa TV. Habang abala ang pangulo sa pagkwestiyon sa citizenship ni Secretary Yasay, ayon kay Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, mayroong umanong audit failure sa mga panukala ni Lopez ukol sa pagmimina. Kapansin-pansin ang paglabas ni Duterte sa usapan, gaya ng mga “basta” ni Inay ‘pag gusto na niyang tapusin ang aming away.

Sa kabila ng modang ito ng pangulo, hindi pa rin nawawala ang kaniyang mga taga-suporta dahil sa mga salita niyang tila mga bulaklak na gawa sa bakal—nakasisindak at nakahihimok.

Ganito rin ako nakumbinsing hindi na lamang umimik sa tuwing pagagalitan ako ni Inay.

Nang sabihin ko ang aking mga pagpapalagay kay Inay, naramdaman ko ang paglaya mula sa kadena

ng hiwaga sa mga salita, tungo sa malinaw at tunay na kahulugan ng mga ito. Gayundin, kailangang matutunan ng bansang tanungin ang pangulo upang makawala sa malalabong argumento na nagpapaigting lamang ng interes sa kapangyarihan.

Na’kay Pangulong Duterte ang kapangyarihan sa tuwing nananalo siya gamit ang mga walang tindig niyang mga desisyon. Marapat lamang na hindi pumirmi ang taumbayan at magtanong kung “bakit” at hindi dapat makuntento sa mga katagang “Change is coming.”

Wala pa ring pinal na kalutasan dahil hindi pa sapat ang aking paliwanag upang makapagdesisyon si Inay.

Natapos na rin ang balita sa TV at natigil na ang pagtatalo, ngunit tiyak akong sa susunod, mas magiging malinaw at patas ang aming mga baraha.

Madedestino na ako sa mas mataas na posisyon sa gabinete ni Inay, tanda na batid at isinasaalang-alang na niya ang aking mga kumento at palagay. −

LAKBAYDIWA e u l a ca b i l i n g

Kumpisal Nangako ako na sa pagbubukas ng taong 2017, higit akong magiging masiyahin at positibo ang pananaw sa lahat ng bagay gaya ng payo ng mga magulang ko sa akin bago ako bumalik dito sa Maynila. Ngunit tila kabaligtaran ang nangyari, labis na lumbay ang naramdaman ko nitong mga nakaraang linggo sa kabila ng biglaang hangouts kasama ang mga matalik na kaibigan ko sa Kule at maayos na takbo ng academics ko.

Kabila’t kanan ang mga pamamaslang, karahasan, at pananakot sa mga pamayanang hikahos sa batayang serbisyo. Bilang ng mga biktima ng gyera kontra droga ang halos laman naman ng mga balita mapa-Internet o sa telebisyon man.

Kung kaya’t sa mga pagkakataong mag-isa, labis tuloy na pagkabagabag at pagkabalisa ang nararamdaman ko bunsod ng pag-aalala sa mga magulang kong patuloy na gumagawa ng community work sa mga malalayong lugar.

Hindi na masaya ang mga araw na wala akong masyadong ginagawa o walang problemang bitbit na kaugnay sa aking pag-aaral— mahirap magkaroon ng bakanteng oras dahil gugugulin ko ito malamang sa pag-iisip sa kalagayan ng mga magulang ko.

Madalang ko silang makausap dahil walang signal sa mga komunidad na pinupuntahan nila. Sa mga gabing wala akong balita, pinipilit kong ibaon na lamang sa tulog ang mga haka-hakang gawa ko na baka nasa panganib sila o kung anuman. Ngunit ganun din, wala akong kawala, dahil bangungot naman ang kahahantungan ko.

Kung ako ang tatanungin, nais ko nang itigil ng mga magulang ko ang community work nila.

Sa tingin ko kasi ay walang kahahantungan ang pagtulong nila kung talamak din naman ang kaso ng pambubusabos--wala naman silang mapapala kung karahasan ang sukli sa kabutihang-loob nila. Masarap man pagmasdan ang mga ngiti ng mga residenteng nakakasama nila sa mga litratong ipinapadala nila sa akin, ibang usapan na kung seguridad at kaligtasan nila ang nakataya.

Minsan nga ay nag-away kami ni Nanang dahil sa sentimyento kong ito. Tinawag niya akong makasarili at hindi marunong makipagkapwa-tao. Buti na lang at nandun si Tatang upang awatin siya mula sa pagbibitaw ng matatalas pang mga salitang tumatagos hanggang buto.

Umiyak ako, humingi ng tawad, ngunit ‘di ko binawi ang mga sinabi ko. Umiyak din si Nanang, humingi ng pag-unawa, ngunit patuloy siyang nanindigan sa pinili nilang landas ni Tatang.

Hanggang ngayon, matapos noon, sinusubukan kong unawin ang alinmang desisyong ginawa ng mga magulang ko.

Marahil sa pagdating ng panahon ay magbago ang isip ko, ngunit sana lang ay kasabay nito ang pagpapalit-hubog ng lipunan kung saan hindi dehado ang mga gaya ng mga magulang kong ninanais lamang tumulong sa kapwa. −

HUWEBES 30 MARSO 2017

OPINYON

11

‘Why is ex-PNoy mum on slave-like condition of sakadas in Hacienda Luisita,’ Mariano asks PRESS RELEASE FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM (DAR), 28 MARCH 2017 “THE COJUANGCO-AQUINO CLAN HAS a lot of explaining to do why Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) allowed the illegal recruitment of some 1,000 sakada (sugarcane workers) from Mindanao and subjected these sakada to slave wages and slave-like working conditions in Hacienda Luisita,” according to Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael 'Ka Paeng' Mariano.

“This problem has been festering since November 2016 and to this day, the Cojuangco-Aquino family has brazenly brushed aside efforts to remedy the situation. In particular, ex-President Benigno Simeon Cojuanco-Aquino III has remained silent on the issue. It is shocking that former President Benigno Aquino can turn a blind eye and a deaf ear toward this gross social injustice and violation of human rights committed by his own family against the Mindanao sakada,” Mariano said.

He added that former Tarlac Rep. Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. even told the media in January that Hacienda Luisita did not need to hire laborers, including “sacada” (cane cutters) recruited from Mindanao, because the estate uses mechanical harvesters to cut and collect sugar canes.

Cojuangco is one of the owners of the remaining lands not covered by agrarian reform in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac.

Mariano said a probe conducted by DAR and DOLE proved the former Tarlac Representative’s assertion to be false.

Reports received by the DAR revealed the following facts: On August 2016, Agrikulto, Inc. requested the recruitment agency Greenhand Labor Service Cooperative

to procure in their behalf some 1,000 sugarcane workers or cane cutters to work in Hacienda Luisita. Agrikulto business manager Lito Laus signed the request letter.

Agriculto, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT), the biggest sugarmill in Central Luzon.

The Cojuangcos-Aquinos and the Lorenzo family jointly own CAT. Fernando Cojuangco serves as President and COO of CAT while Martin Lorenzo is its chairman and CEO. Of the approximately 1,000 sugarcane workers recruited in Mindanao, some 160 sakada came from the province of Bukidnon. They arrived in batches to Hacienda Luisita since the first week of November 2016.

The Organisasyon sa Yanong Obrerong Nagkahiusa (OGYON), a local affiliate of the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA Pilipinas), affirmed that a number of their member-farmworkers were recruited as cane cutters or sakada and transported to Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac.

Many of the recruited lumads were unable to read and write and were recruited through verbal agreements or upon endorsement of lumad chieftains.

Recruited lumads were promised a “Tarlac package” consisting of a daily wage of P450 plus benefits, including free meals and lodging, plus travel to and from Hacienda Luisita. They were also promised P7,000 cash advance in three tranches.

According to recruited lumads, the recruitment agency Greenhand promised lumad chieftains or datus that if they were able to recruit people to work as

sakadas, Greenhand would help them in their ancestral land claims. Billy Baitus, manager of Greenhand Labor Service Cooperative, said the work in Tarlac is part of a livelihood project of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Pastor Bernie Caha, related to one of the farmworker who escaped, shared to Mariano “upon arriving in Tarlac, the recruited sakada were taken to barangay Mapalacsiao near the CAT sugar mill in Hacienda Luisita. They were made to live in a poorly ventilated bunkhouse guarded by armed security men.”

“Some of the recruited sakada were made to stay in makeshift tents and animal sheds in the middle of sugarcane fields until they have finished their quota for cutting and hauling cane.”

“Work started at 4 a.m. and finished at 5 p.m. Workers paid for their own food and provisions. Congee and sardines comprised a meal for a team of eight to 13 persons. Some worked without eating.

They did not receive any of the benefits promised to them.”

“Instead of daily wages, the recruited sakada were made to accept a pakyaw rate (group rate) of P220 per ton for cutting and hauling cane, based on a quota of 18 tons a day for a sakada group composed of 8-13 cane cutters.

Sugarcane workers can only cut 10 tons a day and fill two trucks a week, making their take home pay at less than P100 per day instead of the promised P450 daily wage plus benefits, Caha said.”

Actual payroll records showed that recruited Mindanao sakada in Hacienda Luisita received weekly wages that ranged from P66.21 to P898.20 a week or from P9.40 to P128.31 a day. The minimum

wage for plantation agricultural workers in Central Luzon is P334 a day.

“This is a classic case of human trafficking disguised as labor-onlycontracting,” Mariano said.

He added that since December of last year, the three agencies—DAR, DOLE, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) had been assisting the UMA in the rescue of sugarcane

workers who escaped from Hacienda Luisita.

So far, there have been 108 sakadas from December to March of this year, Mariano said, adding that many Mindanao sacadas who fled from Hacienda Luisita— some hailing from as far as Sultan Kudarat province—are still in Luzon because they do not have the means to travel back to their homes. −

SIPAT Pintang Hangarin −

CHESTER HIGUIT

STA. JULIANA, TARLAC 19 NOBYEMBRE 2016

ERRATA THE PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN WOULD like to clarify some errors committed in the article entitled, “A month after HTI factory fire, 1,300 workers feared missing.” The number of confirmed deaths as of posting this article is already five and not just one as was previously stated in the earlier version of the report.

The lead which previously stated “1,328 workers may have been killed” was also changed to “1,328 workers have been unaccounted for” upon reviewing the facts, interviews, previous reports, and notes of the writers. Lastly, at least 6,000 workers have also lost their jobs after the fire incident.

While the previous data have all been attributed to the findings of a national fact-finding mission as well as to labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno, the publication still recognizes and takes full accountability for these errors. More so, it promises to be more vigilant in its succeeding reportage to be able to adhere to the strictest journalistic guidelines. − THE COLLEGIAN WOULD LIKE TO apologize to professor Santiago Pilar for a misprint in the caption of a photo featuring him in issue 14 published last March 13. “Tiempos Muertos” should have been “Memories of the Fallen.” −

CONTACT US! Email us at phkule@gmail.com.

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WANTED: NEW KULÊ BEDSPACER Walang DOWN PAYMENT. Walang DEPOSIT. HUSAY, ANGAS, AT LAKAS NG LOOB lang ang kailangan upang maging bahagi ng 94 na taong tradisyon.

Magdala lang ng dalawang bluebook, panulat, at portfolio ng gawa (para sa grapix). Akyat na sa Vinzons 401!

−

Bitakbitak na ang lupang binubungkal nitong pobreng magsasaka.

Ang pagkabitak ng lupa, ay pagkamatay ng palay; ang pagkamatay ng palay, ay pagkawala ng buhay.

Walang kinilalang edad, walang kinilalang kasarian; ang delubyong humagupit sa lupang kinagisnan.

Kaya naman, siya’y sumama’t nagtungo sa lansangan; nilisan sandali ang naghihingalong sakahan.

Siya na mismo ang gumawa ng paraan, upang maibsan ang masalimuot na kalagayan.

Dahil gobyernong abala sa walang katuturan, ni katiting yatang balak na tumulong ay wala; kahit pa hinaing ng pobreng magsasaka’y di kailanman naging lingid sa kaalaman nila.

Ngayon, bit bit ang prinsipyo’y; sa harap ng bala, mga bisig ay nananatiling kabitkabit.

Upang wala mang tangang Itak, maipaglaban ang kaniyang karapatan: Mabuhay.

Simple lang naman di’ba?

Tao sila.

Simple lang naman di’ba?

Nagugutom.

O ginugutom?

Simple lang naman di’ba?

Bigas.

Kung iyong mamahaling awto nga, kung iyong magarbong handaan nga, para sa mga dayuhan sa bansa’y naipagmadyik ng salapi.

Ano ba naman iyong magpamahagi ng sako ng bigas para sa magsasakang simula’t sapul pa’y naglilinang na sa ating kalupaan?

Bakit ni hindi makapagpalabas silang madyikerong nakaupo,

Mape Estellena

ni singkong duling ay wala?

Ni isang butil ng bigas ay wala?

Ang madyik ba’y biglang nawala?

O sila itong nang kailangan na’y naglahong parang bula?

Anong kabalintunaan: kung sino pa ang magsasaka siya pa itong walang maipanlaman tiyan, siya pa itong kumakalam ang sikmura, siya pa itong ang laman ng pinggan ay wala.

Simple lang naman di’ba?

Tao sila.

Simple lang naman di’ba?

Namamatay O pinapatay?

Simple lang naman di’ba?

Hindi bala.

Ano nga naman ang bat bat sa bak bakang hindi inakala, ni ginusto?

Kung ang isagot sa mapagpakumbabang sumamo ay ang pagtagos ng bala sa kalamnang subok na ng panahon.

Kalamnang kayang tapatan ang init ng araw, kalamnang kayang tiisin ang maghapong pag-aararo.

Ang kalamnang ito’y siguradong hindi isang baluti; dahil -bigas hindi bala ang tanging nakasanayan nito.

Kati na ang pagragasa ng balang kasagutan.

Makikita mo ang nangahandusay na katawan ng pobreng magsasakang pinagkait an ng makakain araw-araw.

Habang iyong nagsikalabit sa gatilyo, na nangakong magsisilbi at magtatanggol; nabigyan pa ng medalya.

Magsisilbi at magtatanggol -sa naghaharing-uri pala.

Simple lang naman di'ba?

Bigas hindi bala.

Bakit kung sino pa’ng magsasaka’y

siya pa itong namamalimos?

Hindi ba’t marapat siya itong tiak na tibatiba sa malawak na lupang matiyaga niyang tinatamnan ng mga gintong butil?

Ang mapait na katotohanan ay Siya ang nagtanim, siya ang umani, Siya ang nagdilig ng dugo't pawis sa mga punlang marahil ay kahit ng apo ng kaniyang kaapo-apohan ay hindi kailanman matitikman.

Hindi na rin nakapagtataka dahil hindi naman siya ang nakikinabang, Kung gayon, sino? Nasaan?

Hayun sila, maka Kati ang kamay -kakarampot na laan sa magsasaka’y nagawa pang paglawayan.

Hayun sila, nasa kani-kanilang toreng garing; Ang magsasaka’y isinasan tabi -maski ng mumo’y ayaw palasapin.

Dumagsa ang tulong para sa mga magsasaka, mula sa iba't ibang taong nakinig sa kanilang pagsusumamo; na naintindihan at nakiramay sa kanilang kalagayan At ng lupang sakahan Nasaan ba ang dapat nananagot?

Nasaan ba ang dapat tumutugon?

Naroon, hindi raw alam ang kaganapan.

Pagpasensiyahan na raw siya.

Pa(a)no’t nagkasakit daw.

Naroon, minamasama pa ang pagdagsa ng tulong.

Insulto raw ito sa kanya.

Ano't hindi ba raw niya kayang tustusan ang pangangailangan ng kanyang nasasakupan?

Iyan pa talaga ang naisip, gayong MaLALA na ang kalagayan.

Hininga nila’y maLALAgot na nga.

InaLALA mo man lang ba sila?

Aba, buhay ang pinag-uusapan dito.

Bawal ang pabagal-bagal gaya ng di umuusad na trapiko sa EDSA. Dahil pag tayo ay naunahan ni kamatayan, lahat tayo magdurusa; ‘pagkat silang magsasaka

ang siyang dahilan kung bakit mayroon tayong naihahain sa ating hapagkainan Aba’t di pa talagang tumigil.

Naatim pang harangin ang pamamahagi ng bigas mula sa iba’t ibang taong nais lamang na tumulong.

Lalamangan pa yata ang magsasakang gutom.

Paalala lamang, hindi iyan sa iyo.

Huwag mong ipagdamot ang dapat kaniya.

Kilalanin mo naman ang salitang hiya.

Hindi pa nagtatapos doon Ang kalbaryong dinaranas.

Ngayon, sila pa ang may utang.

Paano at kinasuhan, kailangang mag-piyansa.

Sila raw ay nangulata.

“Direct Assault” ang paratang.

Magugulat ka siguro kung malaman mong, buntis at matatanda ang salaring itinuturo?

Pinagbabayad ng danyos na sa suma-total ay mas malaki pa sa kanilang kikitain habambuhay mang magsaka.

Bigas nga wala, pampiyansa pa kaya?

Ngunit ang magsasaka, bit bit ang prinsipyo; sa harap ng nang-aapi’y, mga bisig ay nananatiling kabitkabit.

Upang wala mang tangang Itak, maipaglaban ang kanilang karapatan: Hanggang sa tagumpay Dahil ang bala, kapag binaliktad mo’y alab Hindi mapipigilan ng bala, Ang alab ng puso’t damdamin Ng mga magsasakang ipaglalaban Ang karapatang sa kanila’y Patuloy na ipinagkait.

Dibuho ni Guia Abogado Disenyo ng pahina ni Jul Yan Espeleta