"Not just a contemplation of truth!"

"Not just a contemplation of truth!"

A Message this Good Friday

At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At 3 PM Jesus died as a political criminal, a rebel.

This note, inspired by a writeup brought about by the known Gerardo Lanuza may sound less religious and more political at first, for knowing that the nature of his execution was done by the order as a punishment against its rebellious subjects, Christ's passion and death has aroused people to cling further in their faith, what more of its promise of justice and love leading to a life that's eternal.

And this time, given by the actually existing challenges affecting humanity, the occasion, despite being an opportunity for prayer and reflection, has also the means to strive in upholding what is good and just, for knowing that Christ himself as well as his teachings has guided each and everyone in making a good, meaningful, and peaceful life possible.

But the actually-existing realities has made this note more than just a spiritually-filled message knowing that as people yearned for mercy, the order gave them impunity; that as people yearned for justice, the order gave them fear; and as people desired comfort and consolation, the order responded with pain and repression, these and more has lamented the nation whose "God is the lord" inscribed in the peso bill.

What more that it encourages people to get concerned, seek truth fron facts, and having the will to take sacrifice to serve the people by all means, including their lives in the forefront of struggle- all amidst the challenges in which the church and the community been facing. 

What more of seeing an ever growing militancy by those whose concern and awareness brought themseves to a call for action similar to the Desciples and Crusaders of long ago, for in the end, Jesus did not just died for the sins of the world; but also brought people closer to God especially to the helpless and defeated, of redeeming the sinner and of uplifting the struggled. True that people tried their best to prove how their skill may also change the world they live in the way they're trying to change themeslves as persons, but with faith this may also helped in bringing an ideal closer to its fruition, for as "faith can move mountains" others may say, and the Cross in which Christ died is itself an expression of solidarity such as by an Omnipotent God with all the suffefed and the downtridden, of all the militants and activists who endured repression all in the hands of an unjust order.

And to think that despite Duterte's message seeking unity and reconciliation as christians, people rather looked at it as insincere, citing the fact that the president himself is against the church, what more that he himself ridiculed the Christian faith, calling God "Stupid" and Christ as "unimpressive" because he had allowed himself to be nailed on the cross.

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Pardon for the thought in case the reader is a supporter of the present order they called "reformer" or "bringinger of change", but to think that most supporters are themselves Christians, and to hear his statements pointing badly towards God and Christ, aren't they supposed to be defending the lord instead of whom they voted for? True that their "Tatay Digong" did numerous feats in pursuit of alleviating the peoples suffering, but the atrocities of his regime outweighs his handed-oe'r projects, that his extrajudicial killings outweighs the roads and bridges, and so is his bloodied threats that also outweighs his promises for a better life for the common man.

Like Herod who taunted Christ, Duterte taunted the people with gutter jokes and insults while his followers, reminiscent of those who chose Barrabas over Jesus, chose to support their idol than to seek truth from facts, even at the expense of their support for their Duterte.

Anyway, as a writer and a Christian, Christ's passion and sacrifice is more than just liberation of humanity from sin, but also from repression, and the desire for an everlasting life and a world that is to come, if not to say that the Crucified Jesus on the Cross this Good Friday is not an explanation why activists are tortured by state armed forces, or why human rights advocates and oppositionists, including those who seek truth from facts are persecuted. Sounds political than the typical spiritual yes, for as time goes by, and no matter how those from the order tend to downplay the setting that brought Jesus the Nazarene to act along with his desciples and supporters, Christ's very own sacrifice speaks for itself: that the his action ranging from his miracles, eucharist, down to his suffering and death from the cross is itself an Activism if not an outright Rebellion- not just a contemplation of truth!

"When Blood again spilled the Sugarcane Fields"

"When Blood again spilled the Sugarcane Fields"

(Notes on the recent murder at Negros Oriental)

As Filipinos been glued to the gutter jokes and delusion of their president in every social media sites, last March 30 2019, 14 farmers were killed by the police and the military, Eight were massacred in Canlaon, four murdered in Manjuyod, and two more in Sta. Catalina in a coordinated state-sanctioned killing sprees.

Just like the actions that targeted most of the poor masses, this murderous act brought by the order was the second massacre of farmers during the term of President Rodrigo Duterte after the Sagay Massacre wherein nine sugarcane workers were killed in Negros Occidental in October 2018.

But for the order and its apologists, this murderous act, like the past actions, as nothing but a police action, thinking that those been killed as nonetheless rebels, and this clearly shows the ruthless “policy of killing” that the Duterte regime utilizes in solving poverty and hunger among hundreds of thousands of poor farmers in Negros Island. Without an official program for land reform under his helm, President Duterte have no qualms in eradicating rural poverty by putting to death hundreds of poor peasants.


Aggravating the existing tension through blood and slander

Firstly, the action brought about by the order shows the intensifying struggle between the landlords trying to upheld their interests and the peasants whom demanding land and justice. With 14 farmers killed and some arrested on the basis of subversion, this murderous act hath again fuelled anger from peasants as well as concerned groups and individuals alike, thinking that the regime whom supposed to be for the common man rather chose to continue its oppressive legacy as its predecessors. This may sound usual at first since Philippines remains backward and predominatly agrarian benefiting vested interests, but to think that with a regime trying to assume itself as developmentalist as its predecessors, rather tends to continue a bloodied legacy- silencing those who actively demanding for land, peace, and justice; what more of branding them as subversives and rebels by its apologists.

With this, the Duterte regime, who behind its populism hath betrayed the people with gutter-level statements and bloodied acts, and this time outrightly taketh the action against the concerned masses through various acts be it unjust arrests to those of this bloodied action that costs the lives of these peasants.

Secondly, the Duterte regime's bloodied action, like all others, is one of the ways to tighten the interests of the landlords, compradores, and its imperialist overlords whose foothold remains through its unjust agreements. No matter how the regime appears as "for the people", of invoking "change", or even opposing imperialist interests like in the case of Duterte's comments against Americans and making pseudo-banter against the Chinese, the Duterte regime would like nothing better than to maintain order on the ruling class's behalf, and that includes the use of both police and military power alongside token "reforms" meant to appease if not to silence the working class.
What more that its apologists in social media sites would start churning two and fro justifications meant to show that these thugs in uniform were doing an operation, no matter how "unarmed" these "rebels" were at that time; if not maligning those who vent their grievances in an organised way as "subversives" and therefore face the system's impunity. In fact, on top of the killings, 16 more have been illegally arrested, all on fabricated charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

And while Provincial police director, Sr. Supt. Raul Tacaca described these slain peasants as suspected communist rebels, and even linked to foiled assassination plots against state forces, fabricating such charges is a common enough exercise by the police when accosting organized peasants and activists, all designed to curb their participation in the growing struggle for land and justice in which the state has been suppressing for decades, if not centuries.


Will justice prevail for the peasants and the masses?

With this massacre somehow a cocnerned see why should oppose the regime's bloodied exploits; also to think that ironically, the tragedy itself was two days shy of the third anniversary of the Kidapawan Massacre. How coincidental then, but to think that whether using the insurgency or drugs for a reason, the killing of innocent peasants is motivated by the same reason as the past: to upheld the feudal order by invoking fear amongst them;

And like the dictatorial regime of Rios Montt in Honduras decades ago- this "frijoles y fusiles" variant of the present Duterte administration, either by providing them "something beneficial" in exchange for coercing them to surrender as rebels, or simply by the bullet and be justified, misinterpreted, cannot stop the concerned from seeking truth from facts if not to oppose them all throughout.

All in all, the bloodied actions brought by the order doesn't create an atmosphere of "stability" as apologists may say, for bluntly speaking, the war on drugs is nothing but a war on poor, the counterinsurgency operations is also nothing but a war against the looming opposition, and that massacre, like all others, has made the concerned saw how unjust the administration's way of resolving the peasant problem if not an "impositon of justice", making chances of their "perception of peace based on social justice" as impossible.