Dear Honorable Ass. Secretary

barros-mural

Dear Honorable Ass. Secretary Celine Pialago of the MMDA:

This is what you said, and I’ll translate as accurately as I could:

“Not all mothers in jail were able to attend the burial of their child. So to those who sympathize with Reina Mae Nasino, know full well the reason why she is in jail, and recognize full well what she is [or stands for] in society. You’re turning your lamentations into an afternoon drama series. Just stop!”

Let me tell you a story that’s somehow related.

Continue reading “Dear Honorable Ass. Secretary”

We fought back

Manila rally vs US-Marcos dictatorship circa 1984-85

WE FOUGHT BACK, FROM DAY 1 TO DAY 4,904. Sorry if this sounds too blunt and insensitive, but when I’m asked about my worst memories of martial law—the raids and arrests, the salvage and massacre cases, the anguish of people looking for their missing loved ones, the torture and trauma, etc.—I tend to push them down into the background, into the subconscious.

Continue reading “We fought back”

Duterte’s threats and shades of 1971

Diokno joins Caloocan march Oct 1971
DIOKNO IN CALOOCAN MARCH. Senator Jose W. Diokno marches with rain-drenched activists from Avenida Rizal to Monumento during a particular mass action in October 1971 to protest the violence of Mayor Asistio’s goons and still in line with the struggle for civil liberties against fascist attacks by the US-Marcos regime.

In case Duterte carries out his threat of suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, it will turn into a scenario that’s a near-parallel of 1971 under the presidency of his idol, then-President Ferdinand Marcos. Continue reading “Duterte’s threats and shades of 1971”