We, the undersigned, urge the NTC to reconsider its decision and call on President Marcos Jr. to rescind this illegal, unfair and unwarranted restriction on press freedom, the freedoms of expression and association, and the right to due process.
In the Philippines, red-tagging is being done by the powers-that-be to intimidate, silence, and later justify grave human rights violations against activists and government critics. Journalists are not spared from this as there are attempts to stop them from pursuing independent and critical journalism.
This entanglement between settler colonialism and imperialism has been exposed by non-stop protests worldwide. More recently, the brave and impactful university and college encampments in North America and Europe have made at least one thing clear: the war on Palestine does not consist of two equal sides, occupier-occupied.
Marabe also said that the Chinese forces should be arrested and held accountable, instead of the Filipino fisherfolk, for aggressive penetration of the Philippine territory without permission. He also said that the forces of China are conducting illegal fishing, reclamation, and building of military structures.
It has been 36 years since president Corazon Aquino created the Presidential Human Rights Committee, in a much-hailed move that signaled to the Filipino people that her administration was firmly committed to the protection and promotion of human rights.
Just last year, the United Nations (UN) Women – Philippines also recognized the contribution of Ujano in championing human rights. She received a distinction as a Feminist Champion against Gender-Based Violence, along with other long-time women’s rights defenders Aida Santos, former executive director of Women’s Educational, Development, Productivity, & Research Org (WeDpro) and Princess Nemenzo, former executive director of WomanHealth.
During the protest, Filipino activists decried that the Philippines is next only to India in terms of purchases of armaments from Israel amounting to billions. Last year alone, a $114 million contract between the Philippines and the Israeli government was forged for refurbishing two planes for intelligence gathering. Such contracts, the group said, help fund Israel’s genocidal wars against the Palestinian people.
It has been more than a month since his disappearance but Lariosa remains missing. The effect of his abduction rippled down to other organizers in the Southern Mindanao region. The United Nations (UN) has identified that enforced disappearance is a frequently used strategy to spread terror, not only to the close relatives of the disappeared but also to their communities.
“The Philippines is home to the highest concentration of marine shore fish species in the world, sheltered in a marine corridor known as the Verde Island Passage (VIP). The richness of biodiversity in the VIP makes it comparable to the Amazon. This biodiversity hotspot is being imperiled by fossil gas projects of SMC.”
For almost six years, red-tagging has been a major component of the bloody counterinsurgency campaign – initiated and implemented by the Duterte regime and sustained by the Marcos Jr. administration – through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
Pagtuturo, pananaliksik at gawaing ekstensiyon—tatlong pangunahing gawain ng isang guro. Mabigat na responsibilidad sa gitna ng mataas na inaasahan. Maraming ginagampanan kahit ramdam ang kapaguran. Ano na nga ang ibig sabihin ng “Prof.”? Professionally exhausted?