Student rights as lip service
Beyond the rhetoric and symbolic celebrations, what has the government done to protect and uphold the rights of students?
COMMENTARY
First Person | Ilang alaala tungkol sa kababaihan ngayong Nobyembre 30
First Person | Ilang alaala tungkol sa kababaihan ngayong Nobyembre 30
Mula pa nang maging aktibista ako noon sa eskwelahan ilang dekada na ang nakaraan, malapit na sa puso ko ang usapin ng kilusang manggagawa at kilusang kababaihan.
AT GROUND LEVEL
SATUR OCAMPO
Phl now open to ICC probe on ‘war on drugs’
The Marcos Jr. administration now says it’s willing to sit down with the International Criminal Court to discuss “certain areas” of cooperation on the latter’s investigation, started in 2018, on former president Duterte’s “war on drugs.” The timeline goes back to the time he was Davao City mayor.
Corruption top concern for businessmen in 2025
As the new year begins, it’s the flourishing corruption that the country’s business executives are most worried about, according to a survey towards yearend 2024 conducted by the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).
Two bits of good news lighten up the start of 2025
Surely, the increasing number of self-declared poor among our people is a cause for national concern. The government’s poverty-reduction program definitely needs serious evaluation, what with the contributory negative causes such as calamities, both natural and man-made, that come aplenty every year. This negative trend notwithstanding, two positive developments at the beginning of the new year provide us reasons to cheer up.
BALIK-TANAW
PROMOTION OF CHURCH PEOPLE’S RESPONSE
Balik-Tanaw | Nakaliligalig ang paligid
Ang pagtanggap sa panauhin ay sadyang nakakabagabag kundi man nakakaligalig. Subalit pinapapaalala sa atin ng linggong ito ang dalawang bagay sa pakikipag -ugnayan natin kay Hesus. Una, hindi natin siya panauhin para maligalig tayo, ikalawa, siya ang ating pagkaing nagbibigay buhay.
Balik-Tanaw | ‘Who do you think, was a neighbor (kapwa) to the victim?’
Jesus led the scholar not with an expected Scriptural provision. Instead of offering a legal definition, Jesus tells a story. Jesus, who was so immersed with people, must have known so many stories from the ground. So he narrated an anecdote to answer the scholar.
Balik-Tanaw | The solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity: From afflictions to hope
This Sunday, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. The feast teaches us that coming together as a community, not fear and desperation, will help us face all adversity. Although the events on both sides of the Pacific are demoralizing, the Holy Trinity gives us hope.
BALIKSAYSAY
FRANCIS GEALOGO
Baliksaysay | GOMBURZA, Hanggang hangganan
Ipinahayag ng 1872 na ilusyon ang reporma at liberalismo sa kapuluan. Ang pagkagarote sa tatlong pari ang simbolikong paalala ng lupit at dahas ng kolonyal na kaayusang hindi kayang tapatan ng ilusyon ng ideyalismong liberal na isinulong ng mga naglalayon na maging kapantay lamang sila ng mga mananakop.
Baliksaysay | Sina Chad at Rizal sa Mindanao
Gaya ni Rizal na nagsanay sa agham ng medisina, matapos ang kurso sa Computer Science at palagiang nakikilala sa kanyang katalinuhan mula pa ng pagkabata. Gaya ni Rizal, nakita ni Chad na higit na malawakan ang kaalamang maiaambag sa mga katutubo – pagbasa, pagsulat, pagkilala sa kalikasan, paglalapat ng mga konsepto sa aktwal na produksyong agrikultural at paglinang ng kapaligiran.
BLOODRUSH
SARAH RAYMUNDO
Occupier-Occupied, not two equal sides
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.
Defend Jodi Dean: Fight the Ban, Free Palestine!
Clearly, the Hobart and William Smith Colleges teaching ban on Jodi Dean is a symptom of a broader and systematic assault on the freedom of association through US Counterinsurgency.
Creativity and the broad united front
...creativity is a response to the urgent question of “How do we get across our struggles despite material limitations thaw we face? What strategies of organizing, educational activities can be done overcome the same limitations?” As for building the broad coalitions with multi-class character, she stresses that "being honest and open about difference and not turning a blind eye to contradictions create a healthy space of cooperation and criticism; and where people will be encouraged to exercise political maturity to overcome a common enemy.”
FIRST PERSON
BULATLAT CONTRIBUTORS
First Person | Ilang alaala tungkol sa kababaihan ngayong Nobyembre 30
Mula pa nang maging aktibista ako noon sa eskwelahan ilang dekada na ang nakaraan, malapit na sa puso ko ang usapin ng kilusang manggagawa at kilusang kababaihan.
First Person | Day 1 of COP30 exposes climate hypocrisy
Delegates were greeted not by climate order, but by construction. Unfinished floors, half-built pavilions, and dangling cables set the tone for a summit struggling to meet its own promises.
First Person | Ka Louie and the alugbati
Ka Louie came into the dining hall with his smile as bright as the rising sun.
KALIBUTAN
KALIKASAN-PEOPLE’S NETWORK FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
To demand climate justice is to fight against corruption
A popular quote thrown around to inspire the youth is Jose Rizal’s ‘Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan,’ but what will the youth do if there is no future to hope for—no planet to call home?
30 Years of Mining Plunder: A Comprador Capture of the Philippines
Oligarchs wielding vast political and economic influence have exploited the Mining Act to expand their empires, amassing immense fortunes at the expense of displaced communities, polluted water sources, and deforested landscapes. Enabled by bureaucrat capitalists—corrupt officials who manipulate regulations, grant permits, and overlook environmental violations for personal gain—these mining operations thrive with little accountability.
Red lines for the Global South at COP26
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KONTEKSTO
DANILO ARAO
Konteksto | Sangkot
Para sa mga kakampi ng pamilyang Duterte, malaking bagay ang mga sinabi ni Co kahit na sa ngayo’y wala pang ebidensyang ibinibigay sa mga paratang. Kung paniniwalaan ang ilang hyperpartisan vloggers, si Co ay “bayani” dahil sa diumanong matapang na paglalahad ng katotohanan.
Konteksto | Sunog
Sadyang sinasadya. Sinusunog dahil may binabalak. Dahil nasa kapangyarihan, kayang pagtakpan ng retorika’t pera ang anumang ginagawang kontra sa interes ng mga nasa laylayan ng lipunan. Harap-harapan ang pagnanakaw, patalikod naman kung umasta para itago ang ebidensiya.
Konteksto | Walkout
Tandaang hindi porke’t mura o libreng edukasyon ay puwede na ang “mababang” kalidad. Kung tutuusin, mas nararapat ang dekalidad na edukasyon kung mahirap ang estudyante!
LAB NOTES
Advocates of Science and Technology for the People
Whose bay is it, anyway? Unmasking the politics behind Manila Bay reclamation
Instead of absorbing excess water, reclaimed areas narrow river mouths, eliminate wetlands, and reroute natural flood pathways into urban spaces. The CIA confirms what many communities already experience: flooding is no longer just seasonal, but a structural one.
On the nature and dispersion of heated and radioactively-polluted effluent from an activated Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
Not enough attention has been given to the important fact that the normal operation of the plant would extract large volumes of seawater coolant, heat and radioactively pollute it and release it back into the littoral environment.
On mangrove earth-balling: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
Our oceans are changing due to climate change. Destroying the remaining mangrove forests in Manila Bay will only increase the vulnerability of coastal communities, particularly those of marginalized fisherfolk and urban poor.
OPINION
BULATLAT EDITORS
COP30 in the Amazon: A peoples’ COP without the peoples
Demonstrations at COP30 reveal systemic failures, silenced indigenous peoples’ voices, and the widening gap between promises and reality.
A sunbeam in your hand
For all his faults and frailties, those who knew him up close, and personal, regarded Behn with profound, palpable affection and respect. Such was the magnitude of his life that his funeral became a political rally.
‘We, the Peoples?’ The Philippine delegation’s contradictions on civil society inclusion
Civil society is not asking for favors. It is asserting its rightful role in shaping the future.
ON THE FRINGES
BULATLAT STAFF
View from the barricades (and One Piece banners and flying rocks)
The situation escalated further when police deployed tear gas.
The Mishil Complex
It’s time we stop waiting for saviors in barong or military uniform. The real leaders are not in palaces or halls of Congress. They’re in factories, classrooms, farms, and communities. They are the ones who serve, not rule.
Peace is possible after an intense battle
When I went back to Cagayan de Oro, I recalled our visits to Camps Abubakar and Darapanan. It made me believe that the current situation there showed proof that peace is possible even after an intense battle. It made me also think that a similar success may be possible for a group that has been continuing its armed resistance. I hope the Philippine government will consider the resumption of the peace process with the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army, and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
QUESTION EVERYTHING
MONG PALATINO
Mga di-pangkaraniwan sa Utrecht, West Philippine Sea, at Cagayan Valley
Mga Pilipinong rebolusyonaryo sa Netherlands. Mga mangingisdang nakikipagtagisan sa iba't ibang pwersa sa West Philippine Sea. At mga aktibistang tinarget ng karahasan ng estado sa Cagayan Valley.
Political Dynasties and their Plutogogues
Denialists, legalists, and apologists are the plutogogues of political dynasties who make a career in legitimizing the irrational and unjust rule of the few even if it contravenes the interests of the majority.
Ang mga tula ng paglaban ni Desiree Jaranilla
Sa zine na kumpilasyon ng ilan sa kanyang mga tula ay masusulyapan ang kanyang katatagan at lubos na pagsandig sa kilusang mapagpalaya.
ROOT ACCESS
COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS UNION
Root Access | Fraud in the 2022 elections and our ways forward
One year after the elections, the Computer Professionals' Union takes a look at everything that's gone wrong in the automated elections system, and puts forward recommendations.
Root Access | Pursuing digital justice in the Philippines
Filipinos have the right to be properly informed of and have control over the collection, storage, processing, and transmission of their data. The government must prepare and equip the people with the knowledge, tools, and safeguards against possible ill effects of digitalization, automation, AI, and other social and technical changes.
Ubuntu GNU/Linux sa araw-araw na computing
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