OPINION

Let our schools be zones of peace

NO FURY SO LOUD

By Kennlee M. Orola

Lumad communities had been heavily displaced far from their ancestral lands for quite some time already. Most of them moved to cities or nearby communities. Some took refuge inside universities, away from all the harassments and abuses of armed men. However, recently, another Lumad school found itself raided by the PNP where 26 teachers, students, and Lumad leaders were put in jail. All of this happened under the veil of a “rescue operation” inside a university in Cebu.

Schools should have been a zone of peace, but peace is a privilege if you are living under a tyrannical regime. This is especially true for a lot of Lumad schools that were closed by the Department of Education and ransacked by armed forces. We have seen 178 schools shut down since 2016 and the number continues to rise.

What bothers me more is the number of harassments inflicted upon the Lumad communities. According to Save Our Schools (SOS) Network, there are about 584 cases of attacks, which includes extrajudicial killings and sexual harassment on top of human rights violations. The AFP-PNP is also actively red-tagging these schools, claiming that they are breeding grounds of New People’s Army (NPA) revolutionaries without any solid evidence to show.

I still remember the art exhibit in Diliman that featured the artworks of young Lumad. They featured burning trees, soldiers pointing guns to them, chaos, and blood, among others. I can only imagine the trauma that these children had to go through and battle every

[P] PHOTO BY ISABEL PANGILINAN

day. So there is no surprise if some of them will pursue a path of armed struggle. Who will save you if the people who ought to protect you are the ones killing you?

In a recent interview, the chief of police Deblod Sinas said that some of the children confessed that they are being groomed as combatants and are indoctrinated as communist rebels. Contrary to this statement a social welfare in Cebu DSWD said that the children mentioned nothing about being indoctrinated. The children unanimously testified that they are only being taught to read and write and are all well taken care of inside the perimeter of the school.

It is really painful to hear the cries of men, women, and children from a video taken in a mobile phone in that said rescue operation. One thing is for sure, it is unclear who they are rescuing these children from. One by one, Lumad schools are being shut down. More lost opportunities for these children to learn and more dreams are deferred if not broken. I can not stop thinking, who are these uniformed men and women serving for? Because clearly, in that video, they are not serving the poor and the underprivileged. They operate almost like a private militia following blind orders from men sitting on leather swivel chairs.

Sadly, the displacement of Lumad communities are not isolated cases. More indigenous communities face the same predicaments of defending their ancestral lands from government forces and private companies. The Dumagat in Southern Tagalog are threatened to lose their ancestral domain in light of the creation of the Kaliwa dam. Aetas of Tarlac were displaced in exchange of the New Clark City and Mangyans of Mindoro were forced to vacate the mountains because the AFP continues to bomb their villages.

I can only imagine the amount of violence these people have seen in their lifetime and that would not stop me from fighting for the lives of my fellow Filipinos. I whole-heartedly condemn this act of violence from PNP. The PNP should be serving in the interest of the masses and should not act as if they are above the law and the lives of the Filipino people.

Schools should have been an environment to nurture minds to think critically. It has no place for violence nor force. So please hands off our youth and keep out of our schools!

——— The UPLB Perspective is accepting opinion articles that touch on relevant issues concerning news, politics, culture, and personal experiences. Send your articles or queries to opinion.uplbperspective@

gmail.com

Where the grass is greener

MUMBLINGS

By Gerard Laydia

[Trigger warning: Mention of suicide] It shouldn’t be that hard; trying to thrive in academics all the while working to stabilize your family’s financial situation, rebuilding hardearned homes devastated by the past typhoons, coping with everyday problems stifling your mental health condition, and the like - but the thing is, it is hard. I learned and relearned this as schools nationwide transitioned towards remote learning as a safety measure against COVID-19, and with it came the loss of friends and acquaintances. On the onset of a new semester, students are yet again made to prepare for another battle of learning in the online setup. Undeniably, the semester has become very challenging for most of us, if not all, as we were forced to adjust to a new scheme of learning and not all of us had the resources and the resolve to attend classes conducting synchronous sessions to genuinely learn.

Our national government has proven time and time again its incompetence, all the while sacrificing Filipinos for it. None of these would have happened if our government officials were focused on doing measures on more pressing matters, such as allocating amounts for the pandemic response, the improvement of our healthcare and educational systems, as well as narrowing down the digital divide.

It is true that technology is becoming indispensable in everyday life, especially today where most classes are being conducted online. This does not consider the needs of the underprivileged. Families that go a day with barely any sustenance is still a painful reality, especially in the rural areas. The situation is so severe, that when the new academic year began, there was even a reported 9% decline in enrollment - around 2.3 million students. The government must address this, including the stagnation of our rural communities in terms of technology use. More efforts should be put into making the internet accessible for all.

Even as someone from the greener side of the field, it was still very hard for me to buckle down and finish all the modules of my courses in the previous semester. Without a doubt, it was a very tedious and eye-straining experience, for I have spent the past five months in front of my personal desktop computer, burning the candle at both ends, while being unsure if I have learned anything at all. The previous semester became a poor estimation of our academic performances. In the midst of conducting remote mode of classes while battling the COVID-19 pandemic, typhoons have ravaged homes of some students. Hence, forcing most of the professors to resolve to end the semester and give minimal requirements to the students.

However, the requirements given to us in our classes, whether minimal or not, would not suffice as a proper basis of the students’ academic performance. Many have thrived and almost gained flat uno general averages, but there is still the other side of the spectrum we need to consider: learners living below or within the poverty line, ailed with unstable mental health conditions, and have little to no access to technology. They would surely do a great job too, if only they are supported with sufficient resources and means to learn while being in a conducive learning environment.

A friend would be a testament to this. I would see him in our residence hall with stacked books almost covering up his face. He studied really hard and smart in hopes of becoming an engineer. However, life can’t just go the way we want it to go. Perhaps due to the burden of his personal problems, he chose to make a turn no one could’ve predicted he’d choose - suicide, leaving friends and family heartbroken.

Months after his passing, another isko was reported to have chosen the same route while the semester is drawing near its end. Two lives have been lost during a semester, and they are only a part of the proportion of students choosing to end their lives. Some may have even been juggling work and academics, stifled with mental health, and equipped with little to no means for learning and burdened with academic workload.

It shouldn’t be that hard, and that’s the point, it shouldn’t be. And unless we address this, we will painstakingly continue learning and relearning losses, among which are the loss of friends and acquaintances in a literal sense. To students in more straitened circumstances, bear in mind that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. If you happen to come this far, I would like to commend you for surviving, and you deserve a pat on the back. Saying this a guy from where the grass is greener. ——— It’s okay to not to be okay. If you are in need of mental support and assistance, contact National Center for Mental Health: 09178998727 (mobile), 02-7-989-8727 (landline), 155 (toll free, landline to landline); Suicide hotline: 804 4673(HOPE); or the Office of Counseling and Guidance, OVCSA, UPLB Tel. No.: (049) 536-7255 FB: facebook.com/ ocgovcsa.

112 taong bilanggo ni Uncle Sam

HODGEPODGE

Ni Dean Carlo Valmeo

Sa pag-upo ni Joseph Biden bilang ika-46 na Pangulo ng Estados Unidos, mukhang nabunutan na ng tinik ang mga Democrat at Amerikanong hindi nabiktima ng disinformation at QAnon conspiracy theories. Sa wakas ay napalayas na nila sa White House ang populistang si Donald Trump. Ang pagkatanggal sa pwesto ng isang racist at sinungaling na presidente ay maituturing na tagumpay ng mga mamamayan ng United States. Kinikilala natin kung gaano kahalaga sa kanila ang unti-unting panunumbalik ng demokrasya lalo na’t bago na ang namumuno sa ehekutibo. Umaasa nga tayong ibig sabihin din nito ay pagbaba ng mga insidente ng diskriminasyon, inhustisya, at pang-aabuso ng kapulisan sa Estados Unidos.

Alam din nating tagumpay ito ng mahigit apat na milyong Pilipino at Filipino-Americans na nakatira sa US — na itinuturing din na minorya at persons of color. Pinalala pa kasi ng coronavirus ang diskriminasyong nararanasan ng ating mga kababayan. Hindi-hinding ko nga makakalimutan ang footage sa balita kung saan nakuhanan yung diskriminasyong naranasan nila habang nagre-report sa California noong Hulyo 2020. Sinigawan ang mga Pilipino ng isang puting lalaki at tinawag na ‘pigs’ at ‘disease carriers.’ At ano ang dahilan? Dahil lamang sila ay Southeast Asian.

Bukod dito, mukhang mas magiging bukas na rin ang tinaguriang ‘Land of the Free’ sa pagtanggap ng mga imigrante at refugee na tinatakasan lamang ang malubhang sosyo-ekonomikong kalagayan nila sa kani-kanilang bansa. Malayong-malayo sa anti-imigranteng polisiya ni Trump. Pero hindi tulad

PHOTOS FROM OFFICIAL GAZETTE, MALACANANG / COLLAGE BY GERARD LAYDIA

ng ‘bars’ ng Fil-Am rapper na si Ez Mil sa viral hit niya na ‘Panalo,’ na nagsasabing “‘Wag nang pag-usapan ang mga negatibong pangyayari,” papalag kami. Pipiliin naming buksan ang diskurso dito. Sa totoo lang, kung ang ibig sabihin kasi ng pagbabalik ng demokrasiya sa Amerika sa ilalim ni Biden ay ang pag-preserba sa status quo ng Pilipinas, hindi namin ito lulunukin.

Siguro ay kailangan natin ng isang crash course sa kasaysayan ng bansa. Balikan natin ang gabi ng Pebrero 4, 1899, Sta Mesa, Manila. Ang sabi ng kasaysayan, pinaputukan ng militar ng US ang dalawang hindi armadong Pilipinong sundalo sa ngayo’y Sociego Street. Isang linya lang ‘yan sa mahabang resibo ng mga masaker sa kasaysayang handog ng Amerika. Pero, mahigit isang siglo na ng una tayong pinutukan ni Uncle Sam ay patuloy pa rin niya tayong pinagsasamantalahan. Huwad ang kasarinlang binigay ng Amerika dahil kapalit nito ay pangsasamantala ng mga dayuhang imperyalista, mga malalaking Amerikanong burgesyang komprador, sa murang lakas-paggawa ng mga manggagawang Pilipino.

May mga inisyatiba raw sila sa usapin ng climate change pero kibit-balikat naman sa iniwang trahedya sa kalikasan ng mga multinational mining corporation sa Pilipinas. Wala na nga ang mga base militar sa Subic at Clark, pero malayang naglalabas-masok ang mga Amerikanong sundalo sa bansa sa bisa ng Visiting Forces Agreement. Tapos, mula 2016 hanggang 2019 ay niregaluhan pa nila si Pangulong Duterte ng $550 milyon o mahigit P26 bilyong military assistance.

Isang malaking katarantaduhan para sa isang estadong pinaparangalan ang simbolismo ng Statue of Liberty ay patuloy na nagpapaulan ng ayudang suporta sa isang pasistang kumikitil sa libo-libong biktima ng anti-mahirap na giyera kontra-droga at nanghaharass at pumapatay ng mga kritiko, aktibista, at human rights defenders sa akusasyong terorista daw sila. Pero sa bagay, ano nga bang pinagkaiba ng Pilipinas sa bansang ginagawang video game at pampalipas oras ang maglunsad ng drone strike sa mga inosenteng sibilyan sa Gitnang Silangan?

Ang pangunahing panawagan pa rin ay paglaya. Patuloy pa rin kasi ang impluwensiya at pagkontrol ni Uncle Sam sa ating lipunan: sa ekonomiya, pulitika, at kultura. Nakakaumay na nga minsang marinig ang chant na ‘imperyalismo ibagsak’, pero ito kasi ang reyalidad. Paulit-ulit kasi ‘di naririnig. Paulit-ulit hanggang marinig na oo, mga bilanggo pa rin kasi tayo.

——— Gumising sa mga balitang hatid ni Dean Carlo Valmeo at ng buong Perspective Live team sa Today’s Rundown, Sabado 10 a.m., sa Facebook, Twitter at Spotify ng pahayagang ito.

Louder than bombs

UNDER SCRUTINY

By Reuben Pio Martinez

February: the season of love. As lovers traded flowers and letters to the mood of sweet serenades, various people across Quezon had to get theirs from homes empty of families, isolated jail cells, or even the grave. It was early February when the families of Ronnel Bartalo and Eduardo Torrenueva, two confirmed members of the New People’s Army (NPA), got bombshells of their own.

The two of them were killed in action. With heavy hearts and teary eyes, their families and friends only had their now lifeless bodies to bid farewell to for the final time. “Have a heart?” they asked the Philippine Army, who had none then tried to take their bodies from the grieving families. Much like the typical fairy tale’s Prince Charmings they view themselves to be, in their horses they rode and in their armors they clashed. Their swords raised for the people that didn’t need their kind of saving.

Then, it rained hell. Aerial bombings rocked the province, leaving at least 26,000 individuals and several families horrified. Soldiers and their uppers may have dreamed this as their “true love’s kiss,” but for the unsuspecting civilians and everyone else, this was the kiss of death.

But the army’s love [for] bombing knew no limits. Before they shouted to the skies “bombs away,” coconut farmers Ruben Istokado and Renante de Leon were illegally arrested under the pretense that they were NPA members (with de Leon even being mistaken for another, unrelated person). Even before that, human rights alliance Karapatan had to endure harassment from military men for distributing relief goods post-Ulysses, while the Quezon branch’s secretary-general Genelyn Dichoso had to be arrested along with nine others on trumped-up quarantine violation charges. Dichoso, meanwhile, would have to deal with a separate trumped-up charge herself: attempted homicide, which many have found dubious.

Like birds of the same feather, the Philippine Army and the police have all thrived in terror-tagging and power playing beyond Quezon, and even before the Terror Law was signed. For every progressive or even any innocent bystander that they baselessly tag as a terrorist, that’s one family torn apart and one community having to reel from the loss of a brother or sister.

This is ultimately their hot potato: the collateral damage that came in the wake of their Wild, Wild Western style of national defense. They brand activists and other civilians as enemies of the state for standing firm against injustices, drag their names through the mud to make a boogeymen for their publicity materials, and immortalize them as something more worthless than a subhuman. In their hubris, they define kidnapping families as a safeguard from a non-existing monster and destroying any goodwill that is left in a community. Ask the Asedillo family, who were caught in the Kalayaan 4 case about what it felt like to be taken against their will for their “safety.”

All at the cost of ignoring the true curse that haunted the country: the imbalance of power between the “all loving state” and those who receive love bombing from the other side of the trigger. The result? The state as the pied piper sang of temptation, power, and protection against the darkness, and here they stand and wonder why many have decided to resist.

Ironically, for all of the love that they boast, other names not linked to any battalion or police unit are mentioned when it comes to genuine love for the people. This February 14, one name stood out on his death anniversary. He was John Carlo Alberto, and about two years ago, the once would be Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) turned revolutionary was killed in an encounter with the military. His death is remembered by family and friends, and his life and deeds are forever honored by many more.

Whenever their stories are remembered, most fittingly for Alberto, it is always in the context of their unconditional love for the people and the nation. They were not rebels without a cause, as for many, one was a good son and a great student leader who served his college once as a councilor.

Indeed, there is a curse that needs to be broken, and it’s neither communism nor rebellion. Rather, it’s the lack of justice given to those brutally murdered by the state and the corrupt elite, the lack of accessible quality education and healthcare, and the lack of lands and seas being left to the names of ailing farmers and fishers.

Hot potatoes go cold overtime, and like the state’s long list of mistakes, eventually now they rot and stink for the whole nation to smell. If the state has a heart, then they would see the people they see as boogeymen as human beings, but they don’t. For the cries of the marginalized and the oppressed are louder than bombs, may we remember that there are no dragons in their war.