They come unbidden in the dead of the dark night.
Tag: killings
Nineteen years of deceit: The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act in the Philippines
The year 1997 was supposedly a landmark year for indigenous peoples in the Philippines with the passage Republic Act (RA) 8371, or the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA). Many hailed it as an enlightened law that will help ensure the self- determination of the indigenous peoples in the country.
Killing fields: Extrajudicial killings in the Philippines
When Philippine President Benigno Aquino III assumed power in 2010, he promised to stop extrajudicial killings in the country. Six years later, with his term ending, he has yet to live up to his promise. Aquino won the presidency on an anti-corruption platform and a call for change and development. His mother, Corazon Aquino, was also the country’s president from 1986 to 1992. Aquino has been described by critics as an inept landlord president whose policies are elitist due to his insensitivity to the plights of his countrymen and women.
Blood and fire and happy endings
El Nino phenomenon hits Philippines. Drought ravages lumad (indigenous peoples) farms. Lumad farmers ask help from government. Government provides assistance to farmers. Farmers no longer hungry. Farmers plant for next year’s harvest. Farmers harvest rice. Everybody eats. They live happily ever after. End of story.
Except it didn’t exactly happen that way.
a life on fire 