national events as they impact Northern Luzon
“there can be no press freedom if journalists exist in conditions of corruption, poverty or fear.” ~ NUJP
(In this issue with some added notes is the statement of the NUJP-BB adopted as this week’s Editorial. ed.)
Bit of twist from my July 23 Facebook post after GMA’s ‘installation’ as House Speaker. The SONA did not even happen. It was not so long ago that this new House Speaker rigged the elections to her favor, executed Oplan Bantay Laya, pushed for Charter Change and introduced an anti-terrorism law.
The emergence of DepEd Teachers Union-National Capital Region is nothing more than a state’s maneuver amid its policy to demolish legitimate people’s organizations, but something that our teachers shall be more vigilant with, and be firm in their stance against deceptions that imply their basic demands for living wage will come effortlessly courtesy of the misogynist despot.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines rejects outright the proposal of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security to regulate the profession in the guise of a “Magna Carta” and urge all colleagues as well as media owners to unite in opposing this clear threat to freedom of the press and of expression.
Ita a Hulyo 23, 2018 ket maangay manen ti maikatlo State of the Nation Address (SONA) ni President Rodrigo Duterte tapno mapan na manen ipasindayag dagiti naaramidan na kano ken programa na iti unos ti dua a tawen a panagturay na.
Inton Hulio 23, ni Presidente Rodrigo Roa Duterte, ti maika-16 a presidente ti Republika ti Pilipinas, ket irakurakna ti maikatlo a State of the Nation Address (SONA). Nagtugaw isuna a presidente babaen iti karina a “change is coming” wenno “umayen ti panagbalbaliw,” ti sigud a mayor ti Siudad ti Davao ket nagtungpal iti karina. Nabaelan ken pinakarona pay ketdi ti parikut ti gimong. Dimteng ngarud ti panagbalbaliw, ngem manipud iti dakes agturong iti nadakdakes pay.
July 23 is expectedly a red letter date with coordinated people’s actions in different parts of the country during the third state of the nation address of the president (I refuse to print the name. It is akin to he-who-must-not-be-named in the Harry Potter series of books and movies). In Baguio City, Tongtongan ti Umili will organise a forum followed by a people’s march—it is a public activity and everyone is invited.
In all SM complexes I have gone to in the Philippines, all throughout Manila, from Baguio to Cebu, GenSan in Davao or San Fernando in Pampanga and others, they have a uniform price for their turons – 15 pesos. Also, of almost similar quality, a foot long, stout with banana (we call saba in Ilocano) lined with slivers of jackfruit strips, they are wrapped with the traditional lumpia wrapper and fried with smudges of brown sugar.
The Duterte government is now moving heaven and earth to push for localized peace talks. This is not the first time. During Corazon Aquino regime, regional talks were also held parallel to the national talks. The talks eventually collapsed after the Mendiola massacre. This was quite costly to the revolutionary movement as key regional leaders and staff were identified and profiled. Many would soon be arrested, detained, and some assassinated or disappeared. It was from this experience that lessons were drawn. All succeeding peace talks would then be held in a foreign neutral venue.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines strongly condemns the 4th Civic Military Operation Battalion of the Eastern Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines for preventing journalists from covering the mass evacuation of Manobo Lumad in Lianga, Surigao del Sur yesterday, Monday, July 16.
Jose Maria Sison, the chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) on Monday, July 16, elaborated five reasons why the localized negotiations promoted by the Duterte government is “absurd and stupid”.
The Communist Party of the Philippines and members of the revolutionary movement in Northern Luzon dismissed the government’s call for ‘localized’ peace negotiations.
