Of National Struggle over Neocolonial "Benevolence"

Of National Struggle over Neocolonial "Benevolence"

(or: Notes after seeing some some upsurge in those watching period films 

but still contented in neocolonial dependence)

Sometimes, it is hard to understand why Filipinos, unlike any other Asian, continues to insist the benevolence of the United States despite its actually-existing oppressive nature.

For in a time when movie producers, artists, and literary enthusiasts alike afforded to cultivate again Nationalism such as "Heneral Luna" and "Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral", Filipinos, despite recognising the patriotism brought about by these fallen people and its struggles, still insisting, if not clinging to the idea that these are already past and therefore be disregarded in favor of a "present" where the United States, like any other coloniser, did left a semblance of hope in a form of development, if not modernity.

But as to recall the outbreak of the Philippine-American War and subsequent struggles against the Americans during the occupation, it is ought to say that one must drew inspiration from its revolutionary forebears, honor those who persevere in the struggle, learn lessons from the past and present circumstances, and define the tasks for realising the unfinished tasks for national liberation and democracy.

Sounds radical isn't it? Knowing that as today's Filipino enjoys the modernity left by its colonisers, it appears to be "natural" that the colonisers "did made good" to its subjects, regardless of its oppressive, interest-seeking acts that made some, if not most express its angst even in this present-day setting. True that the United States brought modernity such as education, health, even governance and a series of reinforced concrete-made public works; but, what made Filipinos be indebted to the Americans was and is the materialism the latter showered upon to its subjects like appliances to automobiles, instant food to electronic gadgets, even the culture itself hath becoming more American than the Americans themselves; after all, these Yankees wanted a market if not a place to dump their products and a source of materials for it's mainland needs.

That until today this legacy continues to "creep" in everyone's thought that these once foreigners made the Philippines progressive no matter how they exploit resources and people. Americans did create a positive impression such as automobiles or liberal democracy the way Spain brought Catholicism and the rudiments of classical civilisation; that the Japanese occupier did afford to provide "independence" even for the sake of realising, or the Chinese merchant who provides cheap goods even it puts down local enterprises. 

Yet to think that Filipinos benefited greatly from its coloniser be it the uprightness of democracy or the wonders of electricity, or the system's alleged role as a nation builder, it forgotten its other nature such as an exploiter, an oppressor, a disenfranchiser whom stunted a country's growth for their own interest.

But come to think of this: Movies like what this post stated showed that there are heroes, driven by concern showed its best to have a nation despite those preferring to look after their interests, that men like Antonio Luna and Apolinario Mabini showed to the world that the country as capable of being independent given its struggle and therefore it hath to protect its independence by any means. Even during the American and Japanese occupation wherein men like Macario Sakay, Lucio San Miguel, the Pulahanes, to those of Isabelo de los Reyes, Crisanto Evangelista, Pedro Abad Santos, and the Hukbalahaps, these people asserted independence by any means necessary: be it by the ballot box, by the protest march, or even by the gun.

Nowadays, people from all walks of life rather forgot that significant part of history altogether, let alone it is being learnt in school about these Spanish, American, and Japanese occupations. True that there are legacies that mold the modern-day Filipino be it the ideal studious and hardworking being being appreciated by many or the actually-existing materialistic whose drivel for work is to buy something to brag on.
And to think that this post deals with the need to revisit its history and reclaim patriotism, then for sure apologists would even ask this post that if people have to have to disagree on American interests towards the Philippines, then how about the Chinese? The latter hath occupied the disputed islands near Palawan, and even trying to claim part of the Philippine Sea such as the Benham Rise; quite agreeable to oppose it so is the United States's interests particularly those of it's unjust socioeconomic affairs.

From these unlikely outcomes, whether it is American, Chinese, or even a fellow Filipino, the existing unjustness means resistance. To think that Eternal Vigilance means the Price of Freedom, defending a country's patrimony, and supporting its desire to forge its destiny meant upholding a country's survival. But in a subservient order such as this, is this freedom? Then no wonder not all are interested in History, let alone their favorite throwbacks such as their childhood memories if not how they reduce historical or period films as for the sake of watching and appreciating actors and actresses. 

But as long as the Filipino people remain under the tutelage of American and Chinese interests, then it will not cease to wage all forms of revolutionary struggle for national liberation and democracy. As the enemy never gets tired of oppressing and exploiting them, then the people can never get tired of resisting oppression and exploitation and fighting for national and social liberation. For remember: the absence of genuine national independence and the continuing reign of greed, terror, and mendicance in the country as the bitter consequence of the successful US war of aggression.

"Still, an Australian nun with a Filipino heart"

"Still, an Australian nun with a Filipino heart"

(Notes after Sister Patricia Fox, the deportation order, and her recent return to Australia)

At first, this post express its heartfelt gratitude to Sis. Patricia Fox for her selfless dedication, love, and service to the Filipino nation- especially its most impoverished sectors namely: the peasantry, workers, urban poor, and the indigenous masses.

With her actions which may include steadfast support of its struggles, of disaster relief operations, organic agriculture, and factfinding missions, this lawyer-turned-nun is more Filipino than the apathetic Filipinos of today; and to think that with her actions be imbued with sense of humility, charity, and selflessness, hers is much true than what the system tries but not motivated by serving the people but of political means.

But despite her efforts, the system chose to malign madly knowing that serving the oppressed exposing and opposing the system and its actions be it union busting, displacement of communities, and extrajudicial acts eapecially those of killings against the innocent, unjustly accused, or stood on their beliefs. The system, no wonder why they chose her to be another example by "just" deporting her, by using "legal means" and worse, by making false reports enough to justify her deportation if not a demise like her comrades in faith, Favali or Tentorio.

However, despite the efforts by the system, those who truly concerned for the country stood by her side; with lawyers defending her right to stay, of colleagues supported her advocacy, even those from the congress expressed sympathy as her call for human rights is also a part of her vocation as a religious, if not practising her legal skill being a former lawyer turned missionary; all knowing that from there no wonder why the system turned their eyes on her as any other oppositionist or a concerned citizen willing to speak in regards to what's being sought in ones own surrounding- what more of being a foreigner who, for decades been part of Filipino life, and becoming as Filipino as the others.

Remember, prior to her there were foreigners who expressed concern if not sympathy in the country under struggle regardless of their citizenry: from Sun Yat Sen and Mark Twain of the Spanish and American period, Jane Fonda and Steve Psinakis of the Marcos regime, even Leila Khaled and the young Thomas Van Beerzum whose participation in a rally provoked an order madly.

Perhaps her deportation doesn't end her selfless service to the people. In fact, the Filipino community in Australia did sympathise with her and her life's work as a nun-advocator. And to think that the system stubbornly justifies their act as necessary and legal, or as what Panelo says as "foreigners have limits" and how he injected the Latin "Dura Lex Sed Lex", it is true enough that more concerned folks, be it native or foreign, sought this, like any other matter pointing against the commoner, as plain simple political harassment;

Or to cut the note short: that faith if taken into practise, particularly in response to the surroundings of this inconvenient world, is itself becoming political. To paraphrase Panelo's, if the the law of cause and effect will operate against her as it did in this particular instance- then so is the order whom initiated her deportation out of obviously political reason.

Is it to "Serve well" or to "Shut down"?

Is it to "Serve well" 

or to "Shut down"?

(Thoughts on the National Identification System and its means brought by a 'order'-hungry regime to a subjected people)

As in the past years, attempts to impose a national identification system now seems to be imminent. This time with the approval of the congress and by Duterte himself, this measure, proposed more than two decades ago is still carrying its motive: to control the movement of people. 

For according to ABS-CBN News published last October 29, it stated that the government will soon start a 6-month test run of the National ID System, as it aims to register over 100 million Filipino citizens and resident aliens by 2023.
From that trial run, National Statistician Lisa Bersales said that the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), in coordination with the Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost), will hold a “proof of concept” trial starting November, wherein some 1 million beneficiaries of the Unconditional Cash Transfer Program will be registered under the "Philippine Identification System (PhilSys)".

With that article, as well as other recent articles afforded to deal with the issue, its proponents, as in the past, insist that the enacted identification system can help improve the delivery of government services and to simplify public and private transactions- citing the fact that the need for a single identification system is a practical solution instead of multiple identifications, especially those issued by the government be it drivers license, social security, postal, or any other government-issued identification card.

However, this kind of system isn't unopposed by many- especially those whose primary issue deals with data privacy, amidst events passed involving digital technology be it phishing through the internet, hacking on government and private databases, even viruses that affect systems online.

But for others concerned, what's much worrisome is on how the state deals with personal information- knowing that with the present regime toying with power quite madly, the idea of a national identification system may turn out to be contrary to their statement of efficiency when it comes to its services, if not efficiency in trying to establish a totalitarian state of mass surveillance, population control with its social, political, and criminal profiling and mass murder. 

Sounds quite frank, for in an administration whose cabinet be full of ex-military officials, a supportive legislature, and an approving judiciary, it's easier to impose that kind of procedure, alongside other "important matters"  including those of changing the charter that can give Duterte greater authority, with less restrictions on his power to declare martial law, and even pave the way for perpetuating himself in power under one or another pretext.

Aside from that, that said plan meant a rehash of earlier attempts- with new terminologies perhaps, as for sure one would remember how that the planned identification system is also in conjunction with the Human Security Act (HSA) what was attempted during the Arroyo regime, and therefore will be used to intensify state terrorism and suppress people’s resistance- in the same way that the cedula system was used by the Spanish colonizers to oppress the Filipino people; 

And to think that apologists will also say that "other countries did that kind of procedure", then right was the late Gregorio rosal said, that neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Singapore, implemented a system of national identification- and these countries  are also known as "police states wherein the people do not enjoy democratic rights and their every movement is monitored and controlled by state authorities." Even China did that procedure which includes meriting or demeriting people- and in turn meant gaining or losing access to services. In this case, is this another possible attempt for the Philippines to toy upon?

But still, apologists continue to churn the "benefits" regardless of the nature of the regime as trying to curtail people's rights, parroting threats and justifying it madly.  In a time where things been done digitally, and seeing a regime wanting to utilise it for their ends, one would think if not to say that a real police state is been brewing, making chaos and all that, enough to justify a state whose regime as driven by paranoia, an indefinite state of seige; and with procedures such as the identification system, what more of a possible social reputation program, of massive use of surveillance cameras and enforcers willing to subvert the law for order, lies a perspective wherein democracy is replaced by the orderism they desired for: the view which the market likes at the expense of the people.

Pardon for the thought, for the fact that the regime toys with technology in pursuit of efficient distribution of services, it may also meant controlling people's movement or even suppressing democratic rights- given the government's will to mass monitor everyone's directions or its reputation, what more to target opposition be it those of political critics or dissenters.  

"All Hallows, all Saints, all Souls"

"All Hallows, all Saints, all Souls"

(A poem made for the days of the remembered and of the forgotten)

Let the candles light over the once forgotten graves

And let the scent of incense shatter the past maladies

With the cash from hell banks be burnt in furnaces

And fruit be offered as the candles and incenses

Let the brew be served from the hot cauldrons

Over the midnight sky under the full moon Trying to appease the spirits fallen past

If not the enchanted ones lurking or in gloom

And sacred chants and instrumentals accompany

Shattering the ever silent nights in chambers echoing

Pleasing all the beings seen and unseen

Bringing hope and good tidings

Of love over endless suffering

May they all be thy guides in life and in work

Making the living whose name's honor ever continuing

And in life to come hope together meet again

And cherish again the love ever yearning.

"All after lighting candles, Commemorating the Dead, and Exorcise the Monsters"

"All after lighting candles,
Commemorating the Dead,

 and Exorcise the Monsters"

To most people, commemorating the dead is a usual thing, unless one would rather chose to move on and think nothing without any remorse, commemorating the dead, be it as early as the last day of October to the second day of November, showcases the solemnity that emphasises mourning, some atonement, to those of festivity such as a scare-cum-fun filled party full of things supernatural.

But for yours truly, would say that in an era of killings existing and coming, expect people rather mourn for their country as they sought in every news report that some if not most end mistakenly killed, or killed without any reason, or just killed with no chance of having change at all; if not to see poverty, hunger, various sorts of injustices been issues of concern, which the government "afforded" to address if not denying it by presenting a falsehood such as "their vision".

Worrying isn't it?  And worse, to hear those from high and its apologists that these are either collateral damage or just got they serve after getting a fight even most are not even fighting. False reports been churning throughout justifying if not denying those actions, or even blaming the opposition madly deeply for all the crimes prior to their idol's sudden rise; they would even cry about the fallen soldiers of Mamasapano, or the ones vaccinated for dengue yet got worsened than immuned, but why mum about those who unjustly killed, what more of the victims of various forms of injustices their idol promised to resolve last campaign period? Will that tasteless porridge carrying food truck claiming that no one will ever go home hungry resolve those? This person doesn't say that change should be brought overnight but if they promised to control the oligarchs, to provide land for the landless, to help jobless gain stable jobs, and to build a better nation, then this should happen seriously and not those what people find it worrisome as those killings and continuous price hikes worsened by that tax 'reform'.

Anyway nevermind those apathetics, for after all they care about themselves thinking nothing happens when it comes to their own selves.

Perhaps, with all the news about these continue to churn whether from the papers or in social media sites, more and more candles are being prepared be it at the graves, in their backyards, or even in the streets such as in the once crime scenes. But hope that in times of mourning and remembering there will be those who heed the call for justice in this forsaken land one may call home; that in a time whose present call is "change", that change should be take back and make that change be happen in the spirit of justice.

Pardon for the statement turns political, but for sure some also expresses the same statement even at first supposed to be about commemorating the dead and of the supernatural; but the Philippines has been long haunted by its own ghosts, and the system been haunted by its skeletons in the closet, when will it end exorcised?

"When blood again stainth the sugar field"

"When blood again stainth the sugar field"

(Or "Notes after the massacre at Sugarlandia")

From Nadja de Vera

At first, this post is quite lamenting that in a regime whose bycall is "change", same old problems continue to prevail- and worse, to see that problem be accompanied by a bloody spree.

For a day ago, 9 sugar agricultural workers were massacred last night in Hacienda Nene, Purok Fire Tree, Barangay Bulanon, Sagay City, Negros Oriental. Among them were 4 women and 2 minors. That incident took place not only within a hacienda, but within a cultivated area known as "bungkalan"- and that "bungkalan" also refers to a site occupied by organized farmers and farmworkers demanding the completion of the government's promise of land reform, if not demanding genuine agrarian reform with emphasis on free land distribution and genuine rural empowerment (as opposed to the development schemes of the order).

The massacre of sugar agricultural workers in Negros is premised on this: that they are a part of a legitimate, unarmed struggle for land rights. But for the system, via its Armed Forces and the Police, this and other kind of incidents see only one thing: that if people fight against the ruling oppressive system by any means, that by expressing their legitimate grievances frankly and true, they simply but unjustly think they must be "reds"- and therefore meant to be in the order of battle if not deemed criminals.

And in fact, prior to this massacre, accounts of human rights violations on members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (which the victims were part of) were reportedly perpetuated by suspected elements of SCAA/CAFGU members under the 12th IBPA. From these events before and after then no wonder in a regime who afforded to babble words like change happen these bloodied outcomes. Come to think that when dozens of gunmen fire at unarmed people in a tent, then pepper those hit with “finishing shots” to their heads, dousing their bodies with gasoline and burn at least three of the victims, is this the change that uplifted farmers and farmworkers alike?

Perhaps from all these actions no wonder why the system shun Human Rights thinking that these hinders their agenda of a "quick victory" against those who stood against their goal: that of restoring if not maintaining the order and the privileges the system accustomed to. First they booted out concerned personages in the cabinet simply because of their belief contrary to those of the order, followed by a myriad of harassments and arrests, alongside killings plus a conspiracy theory being babbled in every media, these and more shows the paranoical nature of the order through today's regime, with its apologists who may continue to churn two and fro their justifications behind the attack, claiming that there were carrying guns, as insurgents, anything just to make the killing necessarily.

But despite possible false reports to be churned, it is true enough that with those bloodied actions brought by the system, that its representative Duterte gave that marching order and there is no turning back. From this then no wonder why the political momentum of impunity remains as in the past.

And from there no wonder why resistance is always been the call of many these days. In the case of these contested fields one would remember how Marcos was been synonymous with the famine at Sugarlandia with the massacre at Escalante town, of Arroyo and Aquino being haunted by the tragic events like Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, and as for Duterte, after making hell after the banana groves of Lapanday, stainth blood over Hacienda Nene in Sugarlandia. 

And with all these events that provoke resistance, this is not as festive as what happened during EDSA.

The Miseducation of the Young Bangsamoro

The Miseducation of the Young Bangsamoro

A note by Rogelio Braga 

(With postnote by Paul Smirnoff)

It all started in an online conversation with a well-meaning brother several weeks ago. The brother displayed on his social media the poster of an organized mass-based progressive group Anakbayan calling for a mass students walkout across the country as a protest against this current administration’s violence on vulnerable groups, taxation policies that will affect poor Filipinos, and the extension of Martial Law in Mindanao.

The poster, a call perhaps on an intersectional resistance against the fascist regime, bears the image of a hijabi as a representation of all the common tao resisting the Duterte government’s continued militarization in southern Philippines.

The well-meaning brother reposted Anakbayan’s publication material on his social media with his corrections highlighting the hijabi and then called on to the public to ask the organization to remove the veiled image from the poster; a call which obviously asking for Anakbayan to remove its poster from the public space. The reason for the call being that the poster was deemed to be culturally and religiously offensive to Muslims.

When Muslim women went to the status update and started to challenge the framing of Anakbayan poster, the discussion expanded and spaces were opened to more interesting perspectives from hijabis themselves.

Positions were challenged, arguments were clarified, and the interesting exchanges made the conversation on the issue more complex that if properly facilitated will definitely lead to several opportunities to discover new ideas and lenses to examine pressing cultural and religious issues in our communities.

The online debate, however, continued as a resident from Marawi entered the conversation thanking Anakbayan for speaking in behalf of them when most of the people and leaders kept their silence on the militarization in city and on the growing list of documented human rights violations during the military operations in Marawi last year. Unfortunately, the discussions were cut short when the post was removed from the public space.

The status update got my attention when it was shared by several friends from my circle. I seldom engage myself in public disagreements with fellow Muslims and I usually send an email or a message to make the conversations contained within our communities.

But we are living in a time that calls for a more public engagements since people’s lives are at stake and we are in a regime that while the Duterte government displaces indigenous people, murders peasants and activists, and the poorest sectors of our communities suffer from elitist economic policies the public cheers in reverence and blind admiration to a government that banks on its legitimacy as a false democratic institution to a populism of people’s ignorance and on the systematic state-sanctioned proliferation of fake news.

Re-reading the post and the reactions of some young Moros on the subtle framing of the issue as a religious discourse (that needed religious scholars instead of political discussions) was both an attempt to silence the dissent and a revelation of a deeper problem that we need to nip in the bud before it’s too late: that there is a growing number of young people sharing the Filipino elite’s burden that is the disdain to mass-based movements and organizations in country where the Filipino ruling class is composed of the landed oligarchy.

Disdain to organized mass movements

I am not an Anakbayan member but I have personal friends and colleagues who are active members of the group. There were several instances in the past that I got engaged in heated online debates with some members of the organization. The group was demonized by several administrations already and some of the members were harassed by military and police authorities.

But Anakbayan, true to its words, is a mass-based organized group composed of students, workers, progressive community organizers, and peasants – mga anak ng bayan (whether the bayan is the same as the banwa and the bangsa, I’ll explore this in another essay.)

But my real contention is this: What’s with the young, educated, urbanite, and professional Moros and their disdain to organized mass movements? This is not my first time to encounter that Islam and the tenets and virtues of Muslims are being utilized to either silence dissent or protect and champion the interests of the Filipino ruling class.

It was in the last national presidential election and in November 2016 that I encountered this seemingly maneuvered and consciously planned political strategy to control the language of the country’s Muslim population: when Bong Bong Marcos was running for the Vice Presidency post and Marcos was buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

In personal conversations and in the social media, there was the proliferation of “The children do not inherit the sins of their father” narrative as form of a spiel to dispel any criticisms against Duterte’s decision, in tandem with the Marcos family, in burying the remains of the former dictator at the Libingan ng mga Bayani: an attempt of this administration to rehabilitate the image of the family as they slowly returning back to power.

And what horrified me then were young Moros, leaders in their own communities and circles, educated and well-connected to the center and its networks and institutions, were the complicit drivers and peddlers of this narrative.

Are we creating a generation of Moros that would rather serve the interests of the Filipino elites and maintain the status quo than to continue the struggle to find the most desirable community for their people?

Are young Moros mimicking their generations of pale-faced spineless Filipinos who are educated but are ill-equipped to examine their own country in systems and structures, beyond political and showbiz personalities, their privileges, or can articulate the country’s struggle from the point-of-view of the masses and communities from the peripheries, beyond the official state narration of the nation?

How can we pin down this problem of elitism in our communities? Are we ready to face the consequences – Filipinos and Moros – of this project of creating a generation of young people who were told that their personal achievements in their education, in their professional careers, as government bureaucrats, and in their social and economic status will equate to as a contribution to the larger struggle that will benefit the most vulnerable members of the community?

Or, are we creating young Moros who are more Filipinos than the Filipinos who would rather keep their silence, fight tooth and nail to protect the status quo and their privileges, and follow orders from the ruling families that run their country since time it started to call itself a ‘nation-state’ of confidently ignorant Indios? Philippine history tells us that mimicry has its price in the end; we just need to patiently wait for that tragedy to come post-independence.

Miseducation: integration, counter-insurgency measure, or simply colonial education

Of course, the culprit is the educational system.

Nationalist historian Renato Constantino, in his 1966 essay ‘The Miseducation of the Filipinos’, demonstrated how education was used by the Filipinos’ former colonial master, the Americans, as a tool to pacify the citizens of the newly established republic and eventually introduce the colonialist agenda to the new subjects.

Constantino’s assertions rested on the fact that the American colonial masters used education as an instrument of warfare as “the most effective means of subjugating a people is to capture their minds.”

The narrative of the Bangsamoro struggle is the long centuries of resistance to foreign domination from all the colonial masters who attempted to subjugate the Bangsamoro people – from the Spaniards to the Filipinos. What makes then the Filipino education post-1968 catered to the young Moros different from the former colonial masters? Nobody dared to examine this and we are still waiting for younger generations of progressive and forward-thinking Moro intellectuals to raise the flag.

The Philippine government utilized education as a tool on integrating the Moros in the Filipino body politic. The Mindanao State University system was established in September 1, 1961 to provide young Moros access to knowledge and skills that will keep them abreast with their Filipino counterparts and as one of the interventions to the so-called ‘Mindanao problem’.

Scholarships were also provided by the Philippine Government to Moros who would like to study in Manila and in the country’s premier public universities. The University of the Philippines’ Institute of Islamic Studies was established by Marcos in 1973 to create ‘deeper understanding’ and ‘rapport’ between the University and the ‘Muslims of the Philippines’ – the word ‘Moro’ and ‘Bangsamoro’ then were still unknown perhaps in the vocabularies outside the military camps and bases. Nur Misuari, the chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front even received a UP education.

Was the Filipino education designed for the Moros successfully integrated the latter to the Filipino body politic? Was this kind of education created a generation of Moros that will continue the struggle for their people’s right to self-determination, or was it a tool to pacify Moros and the eventually create a generation of employees that will be beneficial to the labor force requirement of a domestic economy run by few families or the country’s labor export policy?

Or, to ask the most haunting Constantino question: Are we creating a knowledgeable and educated Moros, or ‘good Filipinos’?

The Other Suspects

Post 9/11 and the series of ‘all-out wars’ from the former Estrada and Macapagal-Arroyo administrations invited hundreds of nongovernmental organizations and foreign funding institutions to come to Muslim Mindanao to provide trainings, seminars and other interventions to young Moros with leadership potential.

Aside, of course, from the MSU system in Mindanao, which is a state apparatus, do you think these scholarship programs, extension trainings, youth camps, young leaders workshops and congresses, cultural exchanges, field trips, on-the-job trainings heavily offered post-9/11 in Muslim Mindanao by aid agencies or organizations with donors from aid agencies abroad created a generation of Moros as young leaders with a disdain to organized mass movements, purveyors of neocolonial and neoliberal economic and political ideologies, subservient to the institutional and bureaucratic demands of the Establishment?

One observation I can draw from several years of my interactions with the young leaders as products of these interventions is this: that there is that constant drive to reduce the narrative of the Bangsamoro struggle from a collective struggle for the right to self-determination to a mere expansion of civil liberties and access to privileges in Filipino institutions as a recurring theme of their advocacies.

On the surface, there is nothing wrong with this. But how long will this kind of ideology be essential in keeping a community that is more humane, tolerant, inclusive, and will provide equal access to all stakeholders? In the binary opposition of reform and revolution where can we locate the accountabilities of these young Moro leaders and their complicity to the power structure that narrates and convinces us at the same time that the Bangsamoro struggle has reached its end and we need to move forward to integration at the expense of their agency, the narratives of historical injustices, and the freedom of their people to chart their own destiny?

Rage against the machinery

The first step perhaps is to critically re-examine the history of the educational system as an intervention by the Philippine government for integration and pacification of the Bangsamoro. Obviously this initiative will not come from the side of the government but from the new generation of Moro intellectuals who are keen on locating the Bangsamoro struggle in the consciousness of the young generations of progressive and forward-thinking Moros.

For the progressive Filipinos on the other hand, it is their duty to expand spaces for more discussions, debates, and to engage the government and its activities and interventions to find a lasting peace in Mindanao.

Only a fool will believe that change is coming by keeping what has been there for so long. We can be at least a Filipino for a time; but we can’t be too Filipino all the time.

***

Days ago, Rogelio Braga found out that Facebook removed his op-ed essay published by the website Tingug in February and thus can't even post the link.  Because of this, he initially posted it as a Facebook post then reposted by yours truly to remind everyone on the importance of access to knowledge, of critical engagement with the public, and in organizing education. 

For recently, military and police authorities, driven by rumors of destabilisation, are "red-tagging" colleges and universities, religious institutions, and various personages for disseminating information on the violence of Martial Law, on Duterte's extra-judicial killings, and for engaging the public for discussions critical to the Duterte regime and the Marcoses. The proliferation of false reports, the hysteria of those supporting the regime, and the still-existing violence pointing against critics and concerned citizens alike further aggravated as such as the Duterte administration as trying to maintain in power and possibly extending.

After all, according to Braga:
"That fascist regime is keen to continue its agenda on silencing dissention in public spaces and their critics."

Rogelio Braga is a known scholar and activist. 

Follow him on Twitter: @RogelioBraga