"Despite everything, I remain hopeful."
"Despite everything, I remain hopeful."
I cannot wait for 2018 to end. It has been a difficult, even depressing year in many respects. The country continues to be beset with many major problems socially, politically, and economically and Filipinos are barely able to cope.
Life has been quite hard this year. The effects of Republic Act No. 10963, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law that took effect on the first day of the year continues to burden Filipinos. This law promised to provide relief from economic hardships to income earners by supposedly increasing their take home pay.
This promise vanished into thin air as prices of goods and services soared with the rapid increase in oil prices. Imagine the lowly “sili” costing more than a thousand pesos a kilo! People began posting online the ridiculously high prices of ordinary foodstuff. By August, the inflation rates reached 6.4 percent. Unsurprisingly, people were angry and government was being blamed for the added suffering they were bearing.
The war against women continues with the systemic misogyny we are subjected to, day in and day out. The saddest part is, this war is led by no less than the highest official of the land. Women’s rights are being eroded by “mere words and jokes” of the President himself. No wonder, fraternity “brothers” ridicule and degrade women in their group chats. There are even Facebook groups teaching men how to lure women to their beds!
Our rights and freedoms continue to be threatened. The freedom of the press is being curtailed as shown by what the harassment this administration is doing on Rappler and its lead journalist Maria Ressa. We have also heard threats against the franchise of ABS-CBN. Surely, other media outfits are feeling the heat.
As this administration’s sinister “war on drugs” goes on, the numbers of killings, whether drug-related or not, continue to climb. We have lost count as murders continue to happen on a daily basis. Netizen Dan Santos monitors and documents the killings. He recently tweeted that outside of the thousands of poor Filipinos killed, “under President Duterte, 12 mayors; 7 vice mayors; 35 lawyers, judges, and prosecutors; and 13 journalists have been killed.”
This year alone, Father Richmond Nilo of the Diocese of Cabanatuan was gunned down as he was preparing to hold mass at a chapel in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija on June 10; Tanauan, Batangas Mayor Antonio Halili was assassinated by a sniper during the flag-raising ceremony on July 2 making him the 11th local government official to be killed in relation with the war on drugs; Vice Mayor of Trece Martires, Cavite Alexander Lubigan was ambushed and killed on July 7; and a lone gunman shoots nine sugarcane workers inside a hacienda in Sagay, Negros Occidental on Oct. 20. Life has become very cheap in this country.
Political opposition and those critical of the administration continue to be harassed. Senator Leila de Lima continues to be incarcerated despite the fact that she has not been convicted of any crime. Another critic, Senator Antonio Trillanes, continued to be threatened with imprisonment when on August 31, President Duterte issued Proclamation No. 572 that voided the amnesty granted to Senator Antonio Trillanes by former President Noynoy Aquino. Duterte said that the senator allegedly did not fulfill all the requirements for the amnesty. Trillanes was saved by a Makati Regional Trial Court judge who ruled that the amnesty in question was valid.
Another critic, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was ousted from her post on May 11 by her colleagues who voted 8 against 6 granting the quo warranto petition of Solicitor General Calida against Sereno allegedly for non-compliance with requirements of SALN submission. Prior to this, the people saw how desperately some members of the SC lambasted Sereno during the hearings of the House of Representatives on the impeachment petition against the then CJ. Remember that the one who filed the highly questionable petition was another Duterte diehard supporter, lawyer Larry Gadon.
Even Vice President Leni Robredo is threatened. On April 2, the SC sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal began the manual recount of votes for Vice President for the electoral protest of former Senator Bongbong Marcos, publicly known as Duterte’s choice for VP, against the sitting VP Leni Robredo. This is not yet over and Filipinos must remain vigilant on this. We must remember that after the ouster of Sereno, the SC now is seen as quite friendly to this administration.
On the other hand, allies are given preferential treatment. Former First Lady and now Representative Imelda Marcos was granted bail after being convicted of seven counts of graft by the Sandiganbayan. She has appealed the decision directly to the SC. Another ally, former Senator Bong Revilla who was accused of plunder in connection with Priority Development Assistance Fund Scam, has been acquitted by the Sandiganbayan on Dec. 7. He is now a free man and wants to go back to the Senate.
Meanwhile, Mindanao remains to be under Martial Law. On Feb. 6, the SC upheld the constitutionality of the one-year extension of Martial Law. Last Dec. 12, the Senate and House of Representatives, during a joint session approved President Duterte’s request for another ML extension until 2019.
Duterte’s domination of the country continues.
He has even challenged the international community. On March 14, he announced the Philippine withdrawal from the International Criminal Court which is looking into whether it has jurisdiction to probe allegations of state-sanctioned killings related with the war on drugs. Formal notification of withdrawal was received by the United Nations on March 17 and will take effect one year after or a little over three months from now.
The drive to change the Constitution and shift to federalism remains. China, throughout this year has continued to claim territories that the Philippines clearly won through international arbitration.
2019 promises to be equally challenging BUT there is hope that more and more people are waking up. We have a chance to change directions in 2019 through our power to put worthy and responsible public servants come election time. I remain hopeful. There is no way to go but UP.
Good riddance 2018 and welcome 2019!
@bethangsioco on Twitter Elizabeth Angsioco on Facebook