A couple of days after they burned down the houses, they returned to beat up another farmer. They keep returning to destroy the remaining houses, the remaining properties and crush what is left of the farmers’ dignity.
Author Archives: Rae Rival
As the year comes to a close, the regime seems to be meeting its quota. While we are still under a pandemic and while provinces are still reeling from the effects of the super typhoons, state forces are focusing its attention on arresting activists.
Integrations like these give me strength to continue. During the lockdown, I suffered from major depression, muscle pains, headache, and nausea while stuck inside the house, teaching my students from home.
As a final step towards fascism, the Implementing Rules and Regulation of the Anti-Terror Law has been released in October. Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade, Jr. was quick to red-tag celebrities, duly-elected officers, and critics of the administration.
In an agricultural country like ours, the biggest budget must be allotted to the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Reform. Right now, for every P100 budget, only P2.00 is allotted for agriculture and production. For every P1.00 budget for agriculture, there is P4.00 for the police and military.
Here I am, writing another piece about a mother. Here I am, writing about the murder of a female human rights activist who was repeatedly threatened and harassed. Here we are mourning the death of another selfless woman who, despite being unjustly incarcerated for almost two years, chose to continue seeking justice for others.
The day Duterte signed the Anti-terrorism Law, 11 activists in Cabuyao, Laguna were manhandled by police and military men as they were packing up after a peaceful protest. They were detained without charges. A few days later, the National Vice-Chairperson of Gabriela and Chairperson of Bicolana is arrested based on a trumped up murder case. Jenelyn Nagrampa is also a barangay councilor in Nabua town, Camarines Sur.
Farming in the Philippines has been synonymous to landlessness, debt and drought. Government has always placed agriculture at the bottom of the country’s priorities. But the pandemic showed that in order to survive a lockdown, accessing and securing food is essential. It is ironic then, how a country relying on its farmers for survival neglects its food security frontliners.
