Philippine Collegian Tomo 97 Special SONA Issue

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COLLEGIAN #wakaSONA2020

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The Official Weekly Student Publication of the University of the Philippines Diliman

Volume 97 • 8 pages Special SONA Issue Monday, 27 July 2020

EDITORIAL EDITORIAL CARTOON • MIKHAELA CALDERON

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN The Official Weekly Student Publication of the University of the Philippines Diliman

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Beatrice P. Puente ASSOCIATE EDITOR Marvin Joseph E. Ang BUSINESS MANAGER Polynne E. Dira

PAYING THE PRICE “Wala na tayong pera.”

These were the words of President Rodrigo Duterte during one of his press briefings in June, back when the government had already borrowed over P325 billion in the fight against COVID-19.

Pandemic response comes at a hefty price, but the incompetence of the administration is a much heavier burden that has cost us thousands of Filipinos’ lives.

Contrary to what officials had claimed, the curve is far from flattening, with infections soaring beyond 80,000, with more than 52,000 active cases—the highest in Southeast Asia. The rising death toll is now at around 1,900, and the situation is bound to get worse. According to UP experts,

Filipinos have every reason to seek accountability from the government when the latter borrows huge sums of money on the tab of the public.

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the total cases in the country may even reach up to 140,000 cases by the end of August.

“Itigil n’yo na ‘yang pagiging pasaway,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque retorted, peddling the narrative of “undisciplined” citizens as responsible for the failures of the government. But according to a study by London-based thinktank YouGov, 91 percent of Filipinos comply with mask-wearing, while a Social Weather Stations survey shows that the majority of respondents, in fact, practice physical distancing.

The government pales in comparison to this level of discipline. It has even received a failing grade from health experts and professors from UP for its pandemic response, which has so far led to an increase in infections and poverty. Despite granting special powers to the president and imposing one of the world’s longest lockdowns, the administration fails miserably in sustaining the healthcare system, the economy, and the lives of its citizens.

Citing the insufficiency of existing funds, the government resorted to obtaining loans from foreign institutions to supposedly assist the hardest-hit sectors. As of July 2, the country has incurred

over P385.3 billion in foreign debts for this purpose.

But not even the ballooning debt can sustain the government’s goal of funding a P1.3 trillion economic stimulus package.

Borrowing should not be the only game plan, as Congress can plug the leaks in its purse and channel its resources toward the COVID-19 response.

Nonetheless, the government has touted that it has ample fiscal space to borrow, supported by the sweeping monetary stimulus from the central bank. It has raised the target deficit from 3.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to 8.1 percent of the GDP, or a P1.56trillion deficit by yearend.

This administration should put its money where its mouth is—it needs to spend to save lives.

Currently, the country’s health sector and its workers are on life support. From its P67.62 billion request for additional budget, the Department of Health (DOH) only received P45 billion on top of its existing P100-billion fund. The DOH then reduced its target new hires from 17,757 to 8,694—of which, only 5,484 posts have been filled as of July 22.

Meanwhile, health workers are paid measly wages while they risk their lives, working for over 60 hours a week on a P5,000 weekly pay. They also decry the insufficient supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), since the DOH has only distributed 1.7 million PPE sets to public hospitals from its 6.1 million purchased sets.

When it comes to providing economic aid, meanwhile, the

Department of Social Welfare and Development should swiftly disburse its funds for the second tranche of the social amelioration program to 17 million families in need.

Inefficiencies in disbursement take a huge toll on the 4.2 million families experiencing involuntary hunger—itself a governmentspeak misnomer—and the 7.3 million unemployed Filipinos in dire need of support.

Filipinos have every reason to seek accountability from the government when the latter borrows huge sums of money on the tab of the public. People’s lives are at stake; the government cannot simply bail out on public service delivery.

The government’s fiscal strategy should alleviate the burden passed onto the poor, instead of imposing additional taxes on necessities, according to UP School of Economics Professor Emeritus Dante Canlas.

More importantly, it should address the primary crisis at hand: ensuring public health and safety.

However, the overall response of the Duterte administration has been fraught with incompetence and rife with terror. A public health emergency demands the leadership of health and disease control experts—far from the credentials of military officials— who can come up with and deliver much-need plans.

The failed government response to the COVID-19 pandemic has cost a lot of lives—and the public will ensure that this administration will pay a hefty price. •

COVER • JAMES ATILLO

FEATURES EDITORS Richard C. Cornelio Beatriz M. Zamora KULTURA EDITOR Sheila Ann T. Abarra GRAPHICS EDITOR Kimberly Anne P. Yutuc GUEST EDITORS Elizabeth D. Magpantay Dylan P. Reyes Andy Villanueva STAFF Samantha M. Del Castillo Lucky E. Dela Rosa AUXILIARY STAFF Amelyn J. Daga Ma. Trinidad B. Gabales Gina B. Villas CIRCULATION STAFF Gary J. Gabales Pablito Jaena Glenario Omamalin

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UP Systemwide Alliance of Student Publications and Writers’ Organizations (Solidaridad) College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP)

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Sampaguita Residence Hall University of the Philippines Quirino Avenue, Diliman Quezon City

NEWS

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‘So help me God’

Examining the president’s oath, lies, and disservice to the public DANIEL SEBASTIANNE DAIZ & JOEY ABESAMIS Shortly after the 2016 elections, President Rodrigo Duterte promised to have a simple inauguration. Unlike his predecessors’ ornate celebration in the Quirino Grandstand, his oath-taking took place inside Malacañang’s Rizal Hall. There, he recited, upon a bible, the presidential oath, all while boasting his populist agenda—restoring people’s faith in government, eliminating drugs and criminality, and reforming the bureaucracy.

“I, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my duties as President of the Philippines, preserve and defend its Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every man, and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation. So help me God.” Four years on, these words seem to have no weight anymore, considering the grievances, injustices, and hardships that people have been forced to deal with under this bloody administration. It was supposed to be a sacred oath the president must uphold, but Duterte’s policies speak of the fact that he has done nothing but the opposite of what he had once promised.

I, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, do solemnly swear He definitely swears—but not at all solemnly. Duterte has become known for his frequent use of crass language, cursing his way through every rambling address. Not even a pandemic could change the president’s rude ways, as, in fact, the situation has only gotten way worse this time.

Now that only the government-owned PTV4 can cover his briefings live, his communications team is able to edit out parts of his speech to produce a sanitized version for the public to watch. This is what they did in his speech in Sulu, July 13, where they cut out the part that provided context to his statement on the “downfall of oligarchs.” Such an unethical practice further emboldens the president and his allies not just to freely speak ill of his critics, but, even more so, to distort the truth.

In a joint statement released in the wake of the airing of the president’s edited speech, journalists and media organizations could not make the point any clearer: “How can people continue to trust government’s pronouncements when the president’s very own words are manipulated and then twisted by those who speak on his behalf?” that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my duties as President of the Philippines, Despite saying, in 2016, that he would welcome criticism from the media, his moves to silence dissent prove otherwise.

Journalists, if not arrested, are killed point-blank, making the country unsafe for journalists.

Critical media companies are forced to apologize over a factual report, else be shamed in front of the whole country. If they choose to not abide by the administration’s whims, a forced closure awaits them, like what happened to ABSCBN, formerly the largest media network in the country.

Duterte’s primary duty is to serve the people’s interests, yet he has failed to protect and uphold human rights. From his war on drugs to his war against dissent, the president’s four years in office hold no shortage of rights violations. The prospects in the coming years will be even more bleak, as state forces hold so much power under the recently enacted Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL), targeting government critics. preserve and defend its Constitution, Passing an unconstitutional law such as the ATL is nowhere close to defending the constitution. Legal scholars and advocates agree that the new law is riddled with provisions that go against every Filipino’s fundamental rights, like wiretapping and lengthy period of warrantless arrest. These provisions are so drastic that they even exceed the three-day detention period during martial law.

Worse, the law also usurps the courts’ power as a Duterteappointed Anti-Terrorism Council could issue arrest warrants,

PAGE DESIGN & GRAPHICS • ALLIE PEREZ

possibly further perverting the separation of powers among government branches.

This, however, is no longer surprising as his administration orchestrated the ouster of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, in 2018, and already packed the courts with his hand-picked judges whose decisions will affect the country well after his term.

Legal experts and progressive groups, however, will not go down without a fight. As of writing, a total of 19 petitions have been filed before the Supreme Court seeking to declare the unconstitutionality of the law. The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, among those who challenged it, said, “The exercise of these [constitutional] rights would be held hostage by imagined threats, the kind that the current administration routinely concocts in the face of criticism.”

This is not something the people should allow to happen. execute its laws, Under this administration, many of the enacted laws s o u g h t to kill p e o p l e’s freedom and basic liberties.

Since assuming office, the president has already signed policies like Memorandum Order 32 and Executive Order 70, which only led to a crackdown on dissenters, red-baiting, and increased military presence in certain regions. These orders have been executed rather harshly, which is the very same system by which the Terror Law is expected to be implemented. do justice to every man, Justice is still present, the president would want us to believe, but only for those who are in power. Falsely accused individuals will further be maligned given the vagueness of the ATL. Contrary to the similarly draconian, nowrepealed Human Security Act of 2007, the Terror Law removes the provision that imposes a fine for wrongful detention—a move enabling state forces to abuse their power without fearing any repercussions. This has been going on anyway, as law enforcers have long gone scot-free despite killing innocent lives under the drug war and counterinsurgency programs. and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation.

Being in the service of the people means a totally different thing for the

president. Instead of helping people out during the pandemic, Duterte and his allies in Congress prioritized the swift passage of the Terror Law over the approval of programs that would benefit the public, among which is the bill pushing for mass testing in the country.

Indeed, the pandemic has exposed the true character of the president—he is willing to consecrate himself to the service of his colleagues, not of the nation. It came straight from the president’s mouth: “‘Yung kaibigan kong tumutulong, ‘pag yumaman ka nang yumaman, mas maligaya ako … I want you to get rich, but we have to talk because there is so much that we can do business.”

So help me God. Amid all this, what the people need is more than just divine intervention. As Duterte faces the people for his penultimate State of the Nation Address, we must no longer allow him to manipulate the discourse. If there is anything the past four years have shown, this yearly address is a mere platform for the president to report that the situation is getting better, even when thousands of families are still living below the poverty line.

We must reject his lies and take it upon ourselves to bare the true state of the nation. For this can only be done not from a position of power, but from the position of the governed and the most vulnerable—they who bear the brunt of the crisis, they who hold the genuine power in a democratic nation. •

PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN • SPECIAL SONA ISSUE

Article III, Section 18.

ON LOCKING UP DISSIDENTS Kapatid Spokesperson Fides Lim, whose husband Vicente Ladlad is a political prisoner, lamented the worsening condition of political prisoners under the Duterte administration. “The rules have become bendable, and they can always create new rules after the fact,” she said.

In November 2018, Ladlad was arrested and detained for illegal possession of firearms, but Lim maintained that the cops who raided the house planted the firearms as part of the government’s crackdown on communists. Amid the pandemic, she is fighting for the immediate release of her husband, who is 71 years old, and suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The constitutional prohibition against detaining a person solely by reason of political beliefs was not in the 1973 Constitution. It was added to the Bill of Rights of the 1987 Constitution to prevent a repeat of what happened during Martial Law, when activists and journalists critical of the Marcos regime were hauled off to jail on fabricated charges. But despite this express constitutional prohibition, there are still 609 unjustly detained political prisoners in the Philippines as of April 6, according to the World Organisation Against Torture. Most of them are detained on trumped-up

charges, such as illegal possession of firearms—the very same case used against Ladlad.

The number of political prisoners has ballooned since Duterte took office, with 382 individuals—or about 63 percent of the total— arrested and detained.

In April, 22 political prisoners, including Ladlad, submitted a petition to the Supreme Court requesting for their temporary release on humanitarian grounds, but the court has yet to rule on their petition. Kapatid, an organization originally established during Martial Law and revived in 2019 to work towards the release of political prisoners in the country, wrote an open letter calling for the implementation of the “Iran Solution” for prisons in the Philippines. Iran has released 85,000 political prisoners to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

According to a report released in March by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, prison facilities are at 534 percent of normal capacity, making physical distancing impossible inside their premises. Many political prisoners are particularly at risk of contracting the coronavirus: 47 are elderly, while 63 are sick, according to the same report. As of June 11, a total of 745 prisoners and 125 personnel had tested positive.

Even as the country faces

Article III, Section 1.

ON EQUAL PROTECTION At about 4 a.m., on May 8, as the pandemic raged on and took hundreds of lives across the country, members of the National Capital Region Police Office gathered at Camp Bagong Diwa to throw a surprise birthday celebration for their chief, Debold Sinas. They brought him roses—red, pink, and

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white—taped balloons on walls, serenaded him, asked him to blow out candles on a Voltes V cake, then partook of a buffet and sat at round tables, facing each other without even wearing masks at less than an arm span from one another. Sinas looked satisfied, even posing for a photo with two thumbs up.

People were outraged, and Sinas later apologized for what he called his mañanita, but he was unrepentant: It would have been ungentlemanly to turn his subordinates away.

Sinas even drew praise from the president. “He is a good police officer,” said Duterte at a press briefing days after the story broke, though under Sinas’s watch, Central Visayas saw a sharp rise in violence.

From July 2018 to October 2019, there were at least 320 unsolved killings in Cebu alone, at least 120 of which were in buy-bust operations, the rest vigilante killings.

About a month later, jeepney drivers, all of whom wore masks,

JOSEPH SEBASTIAN JA

REQUI THE

The Erosion of the L the threat of the coronavirus, the arrests of activists have not stopped. Human Rights Watch reported that Philippine authorities are using quarantine measures to file criminal complaints against activists. On April 19, a former Anakpawis representative, and his seven companions were arrested for allegedly violating quarantine measures while on their way to distribute relief goods in Bulacan.

“Why arrest people at a time of a pandemic, left and right? What kind of a government does that? Saan ka nakakita? Cruel and unusual punishment ‘yan,” Lim said.

She added that Duterte, whose judgment is governed by his mercurial mood, shared with Marcosian authoritarian paranoia about activists. This is a familiar part of any dictator’s playbook: Lock up dissidents to kill opposition and consolidate power. Now, we are seeing it happen again. • held a protest off Monumento to plead with the government to lift the ban on jeepney operations and let them work. The police arrested six of the protesters—one of them 72 years old, the rest over 40 , all members of Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston)—and detained them for about a week in a cramped detention facility in Caloocan, where 153 were being held. Most of the Piston 6 had pre-existing illnesses, and a few weeks later, two tested positive for the coronavirus.

Equal protection demands that everyone—rich or poor, powerful or powerless—be equal before the law.

It means that people in like cases ought to be treated alike—afforded the same rights, or imposed the same burdens. Under the Duterte administration, the police, whose constitutional duty is to serve and protect the people, can get away with violating quarantine measures and risking people’s lives. But the common people, who work and endure day in and day out to provide for their families, cannot even assert their right to a decent livelihood and benefit from the protective mantle of the law. •

The State of the Nation Address (SONA) is never an utte though, with Rodrigo Duterte at its helm, these annual than just a mere roundup of horrors past. The breakne trajectory for Filipinos in the grip o

On Duterte’s fifth SONA, the call remains clear disregards the very constitu

Article III, Section 4.

ON PRESS FREEDOM

Raymund Villanueva will never forget where he was on the day that Congress voted for the denial of the ABS-CBN franchise, 70 to 11.

He was within the vicinity of the network’s compound, leading a vigil along Sgt. Esguerra St., in anticipation of Congress’s decision.

He was encouraging several employees of ABS-CBN to fear not, because he, like many people, believed there was hope for the network to win. But then it happened—he delivered the sad news and the rest is history.

As the deputy secretarygeneral of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), Villanueva was behind the many campaigns urging the government to approve ABSCBN’s franchise.

“We are both activists and journalists. Every time people’s rights are attacked, we’re not afraid to just report, but also to call for the defense of these

rights,” he said, adding that the alternative press was not surprised at the decision. The shutdown of the country’s biggest network is nothing but a confirmation of the Duterte regime’s character.

This is an issue of press freedom, he stated. But press freedom has never been just about journalists. The stakeholders will always be the public. Thus, ABS-CBN is a press freedom not just because it is a media network, but because it cuts off one important source of information.

“One source of information out of the way gives the regime more room to dictate the kind of information they should receive,” Villanueva said.

But history has seen all this before and shown us what is next.

The man who shut down the same network years ago did so at a cost, which he paid at the hands of the people. Villanueva is confident— despots do not stay long in power. •

ILLUSTRATION • KIM YUTUC

@phkule

Article III, Section 12.

ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS UNDER INVESTIGATION

AVIER & BEATRIZ ZAMORA

UIEM FOR E BILL OF RIGHTS

Law Under Duterte

erly reliable marker of milestones for an administration, l reports have instead become harbingers of far worse neck turn of events in 2020 affords no more reassuring of a rapidly regressing democracy.

r: The country needs no president who blatantly ution he has sworn to protect.

On the day that she and 19 other people were arrested, Rey Valmores-Salinas does not remember being apprised of her constitutional rights.

But what she clearly recalls is this: a shield hitting her face, a freezing room, and a forced fast.

In detention, there were days when Salinas and her companions did not eat until afternoon. They were chastised for setting the temperature a little warmer in the holding room.

They would have slept on the floor with the cockroaches, if not for the public outcry against their arrest.

Mendiola had been silent for three whole months until various LGBT groups marched on the streets once more on the morning of June 26. Salinas was among

them. They wanted to do only one thing that day—to protest. And protest they did, peacefully. They brought calls not only for equal rights for the LGBT community but also for free mass testing and to say no to jeepney phaseout. They condemned the ATL, which was still a bill, then. The spirit of pride, after all, is protest.

“Isa siyang mapayapang programa. Nag-ensure kami ng social distancing. Lahat kami ay merong masks; meron kaming extra masks para sa mga gustong sumali sa Pride March spontaneously,” Salinas said.

Instead, dozens of police in full riot gear welcomed them in Mendiola. “Anong panlaban namin, e yung mga bitbit lang

Article III, Section 2.

ON PROBABLE CAUSE AND WARRANTLESS ARRESTS In the days of Martial Law, “ingat” was a word thrown around when the clock struck midnight.

But even with utmost care, anyone could be arrested when the authorities said so. It was during a peaceful demonstration in support of a jeepney strike when directors Lino Brocka and Benjamin Cervantes were apprehended. Theirs are only two names out of the long list of dissenters targeted by the state.

In 1972, the dictator Marcos willed this into law. Decades later, under a new president, history repeats itself.

At 12:00 a.m. on July 18, the Anti-Terror Law (ATL) took effect— at least, that is what Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said.

Despite the supremacy of

civilian authority over the military, Section 29 of the new law allows the Armed Forces to arrest and detain persons for committing terrorist acts on mere suspicion.

It is a trick straight out of the Marcosian playbook: to use the commander-in-chief’s powers to create a state of fear. But today, Duterte himself admitted there is no need to declare martial law to achieve the same effect. All that is needed is the permission of the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC).

This means that any person suspected of committing the acts punished by the ATL can be arrested and taken into custody without the warrant required by no less than the 1987 Constitution.

Under the Terror Law, anybody can be a target because an arrest does not require probable cause as determined by a judge.

The ATC is not a part of the judiciary. It is helmed by the Executive Secretary, consisting of different Cabinet members and the executive director of the AntiMoney Laundering Council—nine people from the executive branch, all the president’s men.

This arrest leads to possible detention for 24 days without judicial charges. Before its passage, 24 days—almost a month—was already deemed a punishment for certain crimes such as alarms and scandals, and the use of false certificates.

This was once a sanction reserved only for the guilty. But, under the new law, it is the norm. •

PAGE DESIGN • MA. SOPHIA ISABELLA SIBAL

FEATURES

namin ay aming mga panawagan,” she recounted.

One of them even tried negotiating with the police, but to no avail. Three policemen tackled another one. “Bakit anlakas mong bakla ka? Pag nanlaban ka, papasabugin ko yung ulo mo,” they told him. Their car keys were stolen.

It was guns against nothing, an arrest without a warrant. The police officers forced them to go to the Manila Police District.

“Tinatanong namin yung police officers kung bakit kami in-arrest,” she said. “Wala silang masagot.” It was only later that they were charged with resistance and disobedience to authority, illegal assembly and violation of Republic Act (RA) 11332, or the law on reporting of communicable diseases.

But, even with everything that transpired, Salinas said they will not be deterred. On July 27, the People’s SONA, the Pride 20 will march with demonstrators representing other sectors in fighting for their rights.

Fascism breeds radical resistance, she said.

Salinas was adamant: “We won’t wait for 2022.” •

Article III, Section 22.

ON RETROACTIVE PENAL LAWS Maria Ressa knew it was only a matter of time. At about 5 p.m. on February 13, NBI officers in civilian clothes barged into the Rappler office in Pasig City and handed Ressa a warrant of arrest. The warrant indicated that she was charged with cyberlibel for an article published four months before the law allegedly violated went into effect. Rappler had been an unflinching critic of the administration, and this arrest was only the latest attempt to scare and silence journalists.

Four months later, she and Reynaldo Santos, Jr., whose byline the article had carried, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to prison. The court’s rationale was flimsy and unconvincing: The article was republished when a typographical correction was made in 2014, by which time RA 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, was already in effect.

Section 22 of the Bill of Rights provides that “no ex post facto law … shall be enacted.” The Supreme Court defined an ex post facto law, in part, as one

which “makes criminal an act done before the passage of the law and which was innocent when done.” It is a law that applies retroactively; it punishes conduct committed prior to the enactment of the law.

The reason for this constitutional prohibition is apparent: Every person is entitled to due process. It is unjust to punish a person who at the time of committing an act had no way of knowing that the act was punishable by law. This prohibition is also a safeguard against the practice of passing laws to punish particular people because of their political beliefs.

Ressa is being punished for publishing an article months before the penal law allegedly violated went into effect. It does not take a political scientist to discern the motivation behind this brazen violation of Ressa’s constitutional rights: Rappler crossed Duterte—crossed him multiple times by exposing his many failures and abuses—and anyone who crosses Duterte should expect retribution, to hell with the Constitution.

This case may seem like an isolated incident, the pursuit of a vendetta against an unrelenting critic, but it is symptomatic of the president’s general illiberal impatience with the institutional press. The message to journalists is clear: Attack the president, and we will go out of our way to dig up dirt on you and make you learn your place. •

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KONTRA-AGOS ATHENA SOBERANO

DAYUHAN SA SARILING BAYAN Halos buong magdamag nagri-ring ang cellphone ni Papa mula nang mapabalita ang pagbangga ng bangka ng mga mangingisdang Pilipino at barko ng Tsina sa Mindoro. Bali-balitang ilan daw sa mga trabahador namin sa port ay sumideline kasama ng bangka, kaya tinawagan nila agad si Papa at hiningan ng kung anumang maitutulong ng aming kumpanya sa paghahanap.

Halos araw-araw aligaga si Papa mula nang pansamantalang pauwiin ang aming mga trabahador at matigil ang operasyon ng aming negosyo. Kakarampot din ang naiaabot naming tulong sa kanila, pagkat papaubos na rin ang aming ipon, at wala ring kinikita ang kumpanya.

Kaya kahit maliliit na bagay, katulad ng pangungumusta sa lagay nila sa arawaraw, ginagawa namin, huwag lang nilang maramdamang sinusukuan namin sila.

Bagaman nakabalik na ang ilan sa mga trabahador namin dahil nasa

JOURNALISTIC OBJECTIVITY DOES NOT MEAN MORAL BANKRUPTCY RICHARD CALAYEG CORNELIO

[GMA] could choose to step up—invest in resources to beef up its enterprise coverage—or step aside in good faith, letting its braver fellows throw down the gauntlet on Duterte’s ruinous agenda.

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General Community Quarantine naman na ang Metro Manila, may ilan pa ring hindi makabalik-balik dahil pahirapan naman ang transportasyon. Kaya ilan sa kanila, napilitang makipagsapalaran sa pangingisda kahit kulangkulang ang kagamitan, o sa manumanong pamimingwit.

Maghahanda na sana kaming pumunta sa Occidental Mindoro at personal na kausapin ang mga kaanak nang tumawag si Kuya Fred at kinumpirmang hindi nakaabot ang mga trabahador namin sa nasabing bangka. Napabuntong-hininga si Papa, ngunit hindi pa rin nawawala ang pangamba para sa mga nawawala, lalo’t may kani-kanyang pamilya ring nagaalala para sa kanila.

Hindi maipinta ang galaiti niya sa bawat araw na lumilipas na hindi natatagpuan ang 14 na nawala bunsod ng salpukan. Bagaman sinasabi ng Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) na ginagawa nito ang lahat sa paghahanap, hindi

The Philippine mainstream media’s honeymoon with objectivity, as a professional consensus, offers a perfect cover to cheat on the public.

Every night Mike Enriquez, one of GMA News’s marquee broadcasters, booms out the tagline—”Walang kinikilingan, walang pinoprotektahan, walang kasinungalingan, serbisyong totoo lamang.” This insistence on impartiality translates into impassivity, a willingness to let powers-that-be off the hook while seeming as if above the fray. Such fence-sitting stems not even from any principled journalistic posturing, but simply from a willful disregard for all but its business stakes.

Not even an attack close to home would budge the network.

On the heels of Congress’s decision to reject ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal, GMA’s chairman and CEO Felipe Gozon boasted of the network’s “ability to balance ratings growth with sound financials.” He spoke of how the management had entered the last fiscal year from “a position of strength,” boasting of a debt-free status as of end-March, and a P16.5billion revenue, a windfall of about eight percent more than it had gained in 2018.

Granted, Gozon disclosed all this at the network’s annual stockholders’ meeting—hence the self-praises—the least the

maitatangging alyado ng Malacañang ang mga Tsino, at ang pagpapanagot sa likod ng mga nawawalang Pilipino ay malayo sa hinagap.

Kalat na kalat sa balita kung paanong “hit and run” ang naging salpukan– tatlong oras bago ipinagbigay-alam ng barkong Vienna Wood na may nabangga silang bangka ng mga Pilipino, at hindi ito gumamit ng radyo, bagkus ay inemail sa PCG, na tila ba hindi ito isang emergency situation. Nangako man ang mga awtoridad na pananagutin nila ang nasabing barko, hanggang sa ngayon, wala pa ring nangyayari.

“Ano na lang ang sasapitin ng mga Pilipino kung interes ng dayuhan ang laging uunahin,” bulalas ni Papa habang nagbabasa ng dyaryo. Hanggang pabatid lamang, walang kongkretong aksyon, ang magagawa ng gobyerno sa pagkakataong ito. Parang biro, pero ito ang nangyayari sa kasalukuyan—alang-alang sa alyansang sa huling balasa ay tayo naman ang

GMA honchos could do was remark on or acknowledge the death blow to its archrival.

Instead, when one of the shareholders brought this up, Gozon said, “I prefer not to comment on that.”

It would not have hurt to extend even the most anodyne sympathies to ABS-CBN, even in the same breath as its showboating and gloating.

Such a refusal to say anything at all speaks volumes about whose interests the Philippine media elite puts a premium on. Suppose an expression of solidarity was beyond consideration, the least GMA could have done was report on the issue fairly and accurately.

Yet, after its competition went off air, May 5, GMA’s 24 Oras aired a one-sided interview with the chair of the Federation of International Cable TV and Telecommunications Association of the Philippines (FICTAP), who parroted the same grounds for the network’s shutdown that had been contested in a Senate hearing.

Only after this incurred viewers’ ire did GMA release, two days later, ABS-CBN’s rebuttal to FICTAP’s claims, and by then it had already reneged on its credo about currying no favor.

Even the pretext of objectivity hardly excuses away any pretensions to disinterest, when no less than the newsroom—

dehado, hahamakin ang lahat, masunod lang ang sarili nilang gusto.

Wala na tayong aasahan sa administrasyong ito, malinaw yan sa akin. Ngunit kung may natitira pang hibla ng pagkamakabayan ang gobyernong ito, marapat lamang na putulin na nito ang kahit na anong alyansa sa Tsina, at panagutin ang nasa likod ng pagkawala ng mga mangingisdang Pilipino.

Ngayong idaraos ang ikalimang State of the Nation Address ng pangulo, birtwal man at di kagaya ng dati, bukod pa sa pagbibida sa mga kasunduan at tratadong nalagdaan, higit na kapakipakinabang kung kongkretong aksyon para sa sektor ng pangingisda ang kinakailangan.

Pagkat ang tunay na papel ng pamahalaan, higit sa anupaman, ay ang pagsilbihan ang mamamayang nagluklok sa kanila sa pwesto, hindi isulong ang interes na sila-sila lang ang nakikinabang. •

and the values it embodies and the democratic keystone it is founded on—has itself become the subject of the news.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s Malacañang, with supermajorities in the legislature, has set out to upend what were once inviolable freedoms, and betrays no sense of reluctance or remorse for perverting the letter of the law.

He takes little interest in the nuts and bolts of governance, but he knows enough about the fragility of liberal democracy’s checks and balances to act free of worry about being held accountable. In his autocratic project, the press is just one casualty in the making.

He knows, too, that his words are always fodder for news, soaked up so unwittingly by the majority in whom, by bandying about claims of fake news, he has inspired distrust of the media.

When, days after the denial of ABS-CBN’s request for franchise renewal, Duterte claimed to have “dismantled the oligarchy” in the country. His supposed noble cause could not ring more hollow, more contradictory.

Though, unquestionably, the Lopezes of ABS-CBN are media barons and own other extensive business holdings, still a slew of Duterte’s cohorts, in fact, belong to landed families who continue to cash in on the state’s coffers. They do so in exchange either for giving the president a leg up somehow or, in the

case of GMA’s bosses, for their silence and acquiescence, even as Duterte wavers on ethics and matters of public good—even if his hostility could just as easily shift to them at once.

What is disconcerting about GMA’s complicity are the failings of the dominant media that it lays bare. Now the country’s largest broadcaster, the network wields influence and the pocketbook that alternative media outfits, struggling for survival in an increasingly factfree, profit-driven information ecosystem, do not have. It could choose to step up—invest in resources to beef up its enterprise coverage—or step aside in good faith, letting its braver fellows throw down the gauntlet on Duterte’s ruinous agenda.

Gozon has shared with GMA’s stockholders a plan to launch new digital entertainment channels. It would scarcely harm the public if, in the meantime, they were to miss ludicrous soap operas. Meanwhile, its journalism which moguls have long hijacked should carry on operating, by design, as a watchdog. Yet, rather easily, it becomes more hamstrung than it already is when corporate managers sell it off, literally or otherwise, to the next highest bidder, which, on Duterte’s watch, could soon be the government. If that happens, journalistic objectivity might as well be a shorthand for moral bankruptcy. •

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DIBUHO • KIM YUTUC

OPED-GRPX

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NANGUNGUHA ANG DAGAT SHEILA ABARRA

Kung mayroon mang takot sa dagat, ito ay ang kailanma’y hindi umintindi sa kapakanan nito; traydor, makasarili at alipin ng interes ng mga dayo sa ibayo.

Buntis, bata man o hindi, laging ipinapaalala bilang pamahiin o payak na sabi-sabi ang mag-ingat kung malapit sa dagat, ilog o anumang anyongtubig—nangunguha ito. Kung kaya, itinuturing na kakatwa at talento ang pagkabisa sa dagat para sa mga laking-baybayin.

Ngunit kung tutuusin, ang lahat ng ito ay wika ng dayo, babala para sa hindi naman talaga taga-rito.

Noong nakaraang taon, ipinagpalagay ng administrasyon ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte ang pagbangga sa Recto bank ng barko ng Tsina sa fishing boat ng Pilipinas bilang maliit na insidente.

Sa katunayan, kung may maliit man sa insidenteng ito, ito ay ang pagiging batayan upang masuri kung anong palisiyang dayuhan ang pinaiiral ni Duterte sa apat na taon niyang panunungkulan.

Malimit ang panawagang palayasin ang Estados Unidos (US) at Tsina sa ating bansa, wala pa man sa pwesto si Duterte. Nagpapatuloy ito dahil dumadaloy pa rin ang ugnayan ng administrasyon sa mga nabanggit; na sa halip na makabuti sa bansa

27 Hulyo 2020 • www.phkule.org

ay mapaminsala—napatunayan na ito ng mahabang kasaysayan ng pangangamkam.

Nasa gitna ang bansa ng nagtutunggaling US at Tsina para sa pansarili nilang interes dahil hinayaan ito ni Duterte na magbangga sa teritoryo.

Isa sa pinakamalaking usapin ay ang palisiya ng pautang ng Tsina sa bansa kalakip ang mga proyekto sa ilalim ng Build, Build, Build; hindi lalampas sa 10,000 pambansang minorya ang bubunutin sa kanilang lupang ninuno kapalit ng konstruksyon ng Kaliwa Dam. Sinasalubong naman ng mga negatibong patutsada ni Duterte tungkol sa US ang kabalintunaang pagpapatuloy ng operasyong militar ng nasabing dayuhang bansa sa Pilipinas. Noong nakaraang taon, nasa daungan ng Sasa Wharf sa Davao ang naval warship ng US; alinsabay ang pagpapatuloy sa bansa ng Visiting Forces Agreement, Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, at iba pang ehersisyong militar ng US. Kasabay ng pagdanak

ng dugo at pagdaloy nito sa katubigang lumiligid sa lupa ng araw, ay ang muhi ng mga alon bilang tugon sa animo’y pagsusumamo ng bayan sa ilalim ng panunungkulan ni Duterte. Ang pagluhod ng bansa sa papaling-paling na kasunduan sa dalawang makapangyarihang bansa ay patunay na sa panunungkulan ng kasalukuyang pangulo ay may palisiyang dayuhan na mahina at nagmamakaawa.

Nito lamang nakaraang linggo, ipinahayag ng US na lantarang labas sa pandaigdigang batas ang aksyon ng Tsina sa West Philippine Sea (WPS). Hindi ito malayo sa kamakailang anibersaryo ng pagdedesisyon ng pandaigdigang hukom hinggil sa WPS. Bagay na patunay ng umiinit na banta ng digma sa pagitan ng dalawang makapangyarihang bansa.

Higit pa rito ay ang mga balita ng pagbibintangan ng Tsina at US sa pag-usbong ng COVID-19 sa buong mundo na lumikha ng malawakang krisis pang-ekonomiya. Pinalalala ito

sa bawat araw ng pagtabo ng kumpirmadong kaso at malalaking dagok sa pang-ekonomikong gana ng mga bansa.

Sa paglubog ng bansa sa utang at iba pang tinungo ng mga kasunduan sa mga bansang ito, wala ito sa posisyong makatayo hindi lamang sa nakaambang digma, kundi sa kinahaharap na pandemya. Kung kaya trilyong utang ang kasalukuyang nagpapasadlak sa bansa.

Kung mayroon mang takot sa dagat, ito ay ang kailanma’y hindi umintindi sa kapakanan nito; traydor, makasarili at alipin ng interes ng mga dayo sa ibayo.

Pinatunayan ng ilang taong pag-upo ni Duterte sa pwesto na hindi na niya nasagip ang bansa sa masahol na kalagayan ng dayuhang panghihimasok, napalala pa ito.

Sa muling pagtayo ng pangulo sa harap ng milyong Pilipino na nangamamatay sanhi ng pandemya at krisis, damhin nawa ng mamamayan ang hampas ng alon, dinggin ang huning likha nito. Tayo ang mayari ng karagatan, tayo ang lilikha ng kinabukasan. •

07

PAGLIKHA NG POLYNNE DIRA

Mababasa mo ang nakapintang babala sa mga pader, maririnig ang sigaw ng mga taong walang takot na pinangangalanan ang halimaw. Sa pagdaan ng mga nagpoprotesta, makikita mo itong masyado nang pamilyar na salita.

Lagi itong ikinakabit sa pangalan ng sinumang nasa pwesto, tandang minamana at pinapagpatuloy lamang ng bagong administrasyon ang dating gawi.

Pasista ang bansag sa presidente sa bawat balita ng karahasan; papataas na bilang ng mga namamatay dahil sa gyera kontra-droga, pagpaslang sa mga aktibista, kritiko, lalo na sa mga katutubo. Ngunit higit pa rito ang pasismo, iyong uri ng pamumunong matagal nang inaalipin ang mamamayan.

Pagbabagong-anyo Walang iisang porma ang pasismo.

Ngunit ayon kay Clara Zetkin, isang teoristang Aleman, dalawa ang tiyak dito: nagpapanggap itong nagsusulong ng pagbabago, kunwari’y kumikiling sa interes ng masa, at gumagamit ng pandarahas.

Para kay Zetkin, umuusbong ang pasismo sa pagkakataong nahaharap sa krisis ang mayayaman at makapangyarihan dahil sa kanilang pagpapaksyon resulta ng pag-aagawan sa kita, at sa di na mapigilang pag-aalsa ng manggagawa. Pagkat hindi na sapat ang konserbatibong pamahalaang pinopondohan nila, kailangan na nilang gumamit ng dahas upang mapanatili ang kapangyarihan, mapatahimik ang mga nagpoprotesta.

Makikita sa panunungkulan ni dating Pangulong Erap Estrada ang ibang manipestasyon ng pasismo.

Gaya ng ibang mararahas na lider, markado ng kasinungalingan ang kanyang administrasyon. Ibinandera niya ang kampanyang “Erap para sa mahirap” ngunit binigo niya ang mga pangako, inatake ang mamamayan sa pamamagitan ng pagnanakaw mula sa kanila.

Hindi naman nagbago ang kalagayan ng bansa sa pagpapatalsik kay Erap matapos ang EDSA II. Pinalitan siya ni dating Pangulong Gloria Arroyo na nagsunud-sunuran sa malalaking bansa kahit na ang kapalit nito ay panunupil sa sariling mamamayan.

Maraming Pilipinong sundalo at manggagawa ang namatay sa ilalim ng kanyang administrasyon nang ipadala niya ang mga ito sa Iraq upang suportahan ang Estados Unidos (US) sa gyera nito.

KULTURA

HALIMAW

Agaran ding tumalima si Arroyo sa pasistang panawagan ni George W. Bush sa paglulunsad ng Global War on Terror matapos ang terorismo sa US noong Setyembre 11, 2001. Tumindi ang pagtugis ni Arroyo sa kinikilala nitong terorista, dinamay pati mga kritiko, na nagresulta sa maraming kamatayan at sapilitang pagkawala.

Binuhay ni Arroyo ang Batas Militar ng dating diktador na si Ferdinand Marcos sa diwa dahil sa maigting na karahasan sa ngalan ng pagtugis sa Kaliwa. At kung si Marcos ay nagtayo ng sarili niyang grupo ng mayayamang kasabwat niya sa pagnanakaw, nagtalaga naman si Arroyo ng mga kaalyado sa iba’t ibang posisyon ng gobyerno bago matapos ang termino.

Gaya nina Marcos at Arroyo, ipinagpatuloy ni dating Pangulong Noynoy Aquino ang kontrainsurhensiya gamit ang Oplan Bayanihan. Pinatindi niya ang militarisasyon sa komunidad ng mga katutubo, na nagbigay-daan sa mga korporasyong minahin ang lupaing ninuno ng mga tribo.

Sa likod ng imaheng relihiyoso at kalmadong disposisyon ni Aquino, hindi lamang mga aktibista ang hinuli’t kinulong o pinatay; maging mga sibilyan ay nakaranas ng pagpapahirap sa kamay ng mga militar. Hindi rin tuluyang nakuha ng mga magsasaka ang kanilang lupa, bagaman madalas niyang ipagmayabang ang huwad na repormang agraryo ng inang si dating Pangulong Cory Aquino.

Isa ang malinaw: nagbabago man ang pangalan ng mga nakaupo bawat ilang taon, nasa kaibuturan ng kanilang mga pamumuno ang pasismo dahil ito ang kanilang takbuhan sa tuwing kikilos ang masa.

Pagkabulok Sumalungat si Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte sa elitistang imahe ni Aquino. Nag-alok siya ng bagong uri ng pamumuno, malayo sa umano’y konserbatibo at liberal na paraan ni Aquino; at tagumpay naman niyang nakuha ang tiwala ng mamamayang pagod na sa kawalang-pagbabago. Ngunit kung paanong nagpanggap si Aquino na kinampyon niya ang demokrasya, gayundin si Duterte na umarteng kapantay ng masa; sa huli, pareho rin silang naging marahas sa mga Pilipino.

Epektibong nakumbinsi ni Duterte ang mamamayan na ang sakit ng lipunan ay iligal

na droga, bagay na hindi gaanong binigyang-pansin ng mga dating administrasyon ngunit malapit sa karanasan ng ordinaryong Pilipino.

Binuo ng pangulo ang imahe ng pagiging ama nang maupo siya sa pwesto—malupit ngunit palagi niyang sinasabing alam niya ang makabubuti para sa lahat.

Pinatibay ng naratibong ito ang posisyon ni Duterte, kaya kahit siya na mismo ang nagpapahayag na bobombahin niya ang mga komunidad, pumapasa pa rin ito sa mga tao. Dahil hinubog na niya ang kanilang ideya, pinalalim din ang kanilang takot, na ang mga tinutugis niya ay dapat lamang pahirapan at dahasin dahil sila umano ang kaaway ng bayan.

Inatake niya ang midya, at sinabing hakbang ito upang sirain ang pamumuno ng mga oligarko, ngunit ililigtas niya ang mga kaalyadong sina Cayetano, Villar, Ang, at iba pa. Tumitindi ang pagkabalisa ng mamamayan ngayong may pandemya.

Naghihirap ang lahat, at habang nagpapakasasa ang mayayamang politiko, nagiging mas malay ang mga tao sa kawalan ng pagkakapantay at tunggalian ng mga uri, kaya naman natutulak na silang mag-alsa.

Binabali ni Duterte ang pangako niya sa mga tao. Pumalya siyang iangat ang kalagayan ng mahihirap, tugunan ang iligal na droga at krimen, ngunit sa lahat ng kabiguan, kakatig siya sa emosyon natin, sasabihing ginagawa niya ang lahat, pagod na siya, saka ituturo ang kaaway—mga pasaway, komunista, at oligarko.

Tipikal sa isang populistang gaya ni Dutere ang gawaing ito. Kailangan niyang lumikha ng tunggalian sa mamamayan upang maiwasang pagbuntunan ng sisi, o para lamang masiraan ang oposisyon.

Bagaman isiniwalat ng pandemya ang kabulukan ni Duterte at ng mas malaki pang global na sistema, hindi aatras ang namumuno sa harap ng

DIBUHO • RANIELLA MARTINEZ

Philippine Collegian Special SONA Issue Monday, 27 July 2020

lumalaban nang mamamayan.

Kasabay ng paglala ng pandemya ay pagiging mas marahas pa ng gobyerno.

Paglusaw Upang manatili ang kapit ni Duterte at ng kanyang mga kaalyado sa bansa, lumikha sila ng sariling hukbo—ang mga troll. Kung paanong namobilisa ang mga Aleman upang maging stormtrooper at pumatay ng mga Hudyo gamit ang radikal na nasyonalismo, nagtagumpay si Duterte na mag-organisa ng mga mang-uusig sa internet.

Ginagamit ng mga pasista ang ideya ng nasyonalismo upang ipakalimot sa mamamayan na ang tunay na tunggalian ay nasa pagkakaiba ng uri at umuugat sa kawalan ng pagkakapantay, ani Jairus Banaji, mananaliksik mula sa University of London.

Kapwa maralita o manggagawa ang mga troll, ngunit pinapakilos sila sa ngalan ng umano’y nasyonalismo, na ang panghaharas sa mga aktibista’t kritiko ay para sa bayan. Madali silang kamuhian ngunit dapat alalahaning hindi sila nagmumula sa uri ng mga nang-aapi. Sa gayon, sila ay napapaliwanagan at nababago.

Sa katunayan, marami na sa kanila ang tumalikod kay Duterte dahil sa pasistang pamamaraan niya ng pagtugon sa pandemya.

Hindi magtatagal, ninipis ang pwersa ni Duterte habang lumalakas at lumalawak ang pagkakaisa ng mamamayang nais nang kumawala sa pasismo. Ngunit iba ngayon ang pagbuo ng hanay mula sa EDSA I, at II dahil malinaw na napapasailalim pa rin ang bansa sa parehong kondisyon matapos ang mga demonstrasyong ito.

Kung mapapalitan man si Duterte ng sinumang oposisyon,

hindi

m at i t i y a k ang paglaya natin mula sa karahasan, gayundin kung maghihintay ang sambayanan at magdurusa ng dalawang taon upang bumoto. Sa halip, ang tuon ng pagkakaisa ay tuluyang pagpapabagsak sa lumalaganap na marahas na sistema ng pamumuno.

Makalalaya lamang tayo sa siklo ng kasinungalingan at karahasan kung tutugisin mula sa ugat, tuluyang aalisin sa bansa ang dahilan ng mga ito. Hindi naman habambuhay mananatili ang halimaw, tumatapang ang mamamayang harapin ito, hanggang sumikat ang araw. •

DISENYO NG PAHINA • SOFIA DELOS REYES