Ernesto Abella exits as President Duterte’s spokesman, ending a yearlong arrangement that looked inauspicious from the beginning. How indeed could any sort of arrangement have worked between an inveterate deviant for a principal and an ex-pastor for his spokesman?

Actually, I think Abella did well by Duterte, all things considered – for one thing, he may have had to do some juggling of conscience and loyalty to his boss.

Abella brought a rare talent to the job that made all the difference: he could say nothing in the most number of words – words yet chosen for their inherently grave weight and spoken in the proper tone and with the proper look on his face. He managed to interpret and explain his boss's utterances in no worse way than their uninterpreted and unexplained original – others try, and only make things worse, and Sal Panelo proves himself the best of them.

Cleaning up after Rodrigo Duterte is simply an impossible task. He is a mean and crude specimen. He has a stock, one-word solution for drug addicts: "Kill!" He has the same cuss phrase for anyone who displeases him – the one that debases all mothers, and, in case mom or child doubted his seriousness and specificity of purpose, he sometimes illustrated the epithet with his middle finger.

Of course, Abella always tried to skip those instances in his review of the president’s day for the press. When pressed, he resorted to obtuseness by deploying his heavy vocabulary and making a forlorn face.

He did have problems when unable to resist the temptation, a standing one in such high-profile position as he holds, to be cute or funny, but that very rarely happened. One case had him advising the news media to do some "creative imagination" and to not always take the president literally. I’m able to recall that case easily because I was asked to comment on it. "News people are not in the business of imagining; they’re in the business of reporting," I said. And we both left it at that.

For all his adeptness, Abella is not coming away untainted, to be sure. And, if he planned to return to spiritual preaching, he had better prepare himself for harder questions than he had ever faced, not the least of which is how, in God's name, he got himself involved with Duterte in the first place. Still, he will be a tough act to follow as Duterte's spokesman.

At any rate, his replacement, Harry Roque, will not stand comparison. He will be nothing at all like Abella; he will be a more interesting act. Where Abella is bland, he is blustery, not unlike Duterte in fact. The two of them should make for a catchy marquee: Rody and Harry. But, in the end, it's the provocative personality each one brings to the tandem that will define their show.

The partnership will be driven by ambition, a common wish to leave a mark, some mark, on the world. Rody’s case is known enough; in fact it’s a clinically and judicially documented one: an “antisocial narcissistic personality disorder” characterized by gross indifference, insensitivity, and self-centeredness” and a “grandiose sense of self-entitlement.”

Roque’s case may not be pathological, but some inordinate compulsion underlies it all the same, a compulsion that gets in the way of certain fundamental precepts. A lawyer, he began as a champion for human rights, among other causes, a position that aligned him, militantly, against the likes of Duterte precisely. The fraudulent president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, now a chief Duterte ally in Congress, was the enemy. He now joins her, along with such other Duterte partisans as the heirs of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada, both deposed presidents and convicted plunderers.

Roque is what you call a principle turncoat. Obviously, he has liked a high profile, but he was indulged it for his proper cause. Now his eye is apparently on some high elective office —the Senate, they say. Until his enlistment by Duterte, he has filled a concessional seat in Congress as a representative of a sector that won in a less rigorous party-list election.

Soon enough, colleagues from the sector started denouncing him as unworthy of its representation and demanding he vacate the seat. Apparently, the rift had been caused by his vociferous espousal of Duterte platforms.    

Anyway, no pretensions now; he’s out and out a Duterte boy, in fact one of the starring pair in what may well be the most anxiously awaited show in town: Rody and Harry. – Rappler.com

I spotted what apparently was a father and daughter riding tandem on a foldable bicycle along Katipunan Avenue and heading to the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City.

Both were dressed quite appropriately for the weather and for cycling. It was good to see that they both at least have their helmets on, though ideally it would have been better if they wore elbow and knee pads and "reflective" clothing for them to be easily seen on the road. (READ: Biking to work? Here's what you should know)

Waiting for a chance to cross

The cyclist was waiting for a chance to cross Katipunan towards the University of the Philippines' (UP) Magsaysay gate.

True to form, motorists along Katipunan's southbound directions do not slow down to allow for others to make a left turn to UP. Motorists bound for the university have to inch their way and create gaps for themselves to cross. (WATCH: Getting around the city on two wheels )

Often, one has to rely on the Katipunan jeepneys whose drivers are braver than others in forcing their way to be able to cross the road. The father and daughter tandem were able to cross safely, taking advantage of a screen of motor vehicles (including ours) that made a left turn to enter UP.

I have observed that jeepney and truck drivers are more likely to stop and give way than private car drivers and motorcyclists. Motorists generally don't give way to others even in heavy traffic, often blocking intersections just because the green light is still on for them. (READ: Road deaths in PH: Most are motorcycle riders, pedestrians)

Many do not give way to pedestrians and do not know how to share road space with cyclists. Worse are motorcyclists who use sidewalks and bully pedestrians to give way to them!

Meanwhile, you have pedestrians who throw all caution to the wind to cross anywhere and anytime along roads like Commonwealth, commuters occupying the carriageway as they wait for their rides, and cyclists hogging the middle of the road when there are actually lanes designated for them.

These are manifestations of how poorly people are trained for road use and often an indictment of a failed licensing system, as well as traffic education in general.

Pedaling along

After successfully crossing Katipunan, the father and daughter tandem finally enters the more friendly roads of the UP campus.

UP Diliman already has bicycle lanes along its academic oval and the community is generally aware of the rights of pedestrians and cyclists as road users. I would like to think that people who have a connection with the university and those who are also advocates of walking, cycling, and road safety respect each other's rights.

But as always there will be those irresponsible people – pasaway, barumbado, etc – who will disregard traffic rules and put lives in danger with their behavior on the road. (READ: Putting the brakes on road deaths)

In many cases these days, we just need a little common sense and perhaps more of courtesy to make travel safer and better for everyone. Everybody needs to learn and practice respect for each other's rights on the road and extend courtesy to everyone so we can have order in our streets.

It doesn't take a genius – or experts, international or local – to point out things that are basically common sense and require common courtesy, if not decency.– Rappler.com

Jose Regin F. Regidor is a Professor at the Institute of Civil Engineering of the University of the Philippines Diliman. He likes to travel and writes about his experiences and observations on transport and traffic.

Sabi ng isang Facebook user kamakailan: “Nakatihaya ako, LTE ang connection ko. Bumaling ako sa kanan, paharap sa dingding, naging 3G, at pagbaling naman sa kaliwa, paharap sa pintuan, naging E. What kind of sorcery is this? Lol.”

Nakakatawang isipin, pero ilan sa atin ang may ganyang karanasan pagdating sa wireless broadband? Itinatapat ang telepono sa kaliwa, sa kanan, pataas, paikot, sa kung saan-saan para mahanap lang ang pagmumulan ng mahiwagang signal. Minsan tatapat sa may pintuan o hahakbang nang paatras o pasulong bago makabingo.

Sa ibang kuwento naman, kahit na suwertehin kang mahanap ng iyong telepono ang signal, ibang sakit ng ulo pa ang pagong speed ng internet. Good luck na lang sa mga gustong magtrabaho nang maayos – forever na paghihintay sa pag-download ng attachment ng email o di kaya’y magpadala ng natapos na tugon sa email na ’yun. Magkape ka muna o umidlip nang sandali bago mo makita ang pinakaaasam na “Sent”!

Di ba’t kahit nga si Jack Ma, ang sikat at napakayamang negosyanteng nagtayo ng Alibaba Group sa China (binubuo ng mga negosyong internet-based), ang nagsabing “no good” ang internet sa Pilipinas? Masakit marahil ang puna para sa mga taga-telcos na nakarinig sa pagtitipon sa De La Salle University noong Oktubre 25. Pero kadalasa’y masakit naman talaga ang katotohanan, di ba?

Kung tutuusin, ayon sa Global State of the Internet report ng Akamai Technologies nitong 2017, 7.6 Mbps lang ang average connection speed ng internet sa China, na nasa ranggong 74 – malayo sa South Korea na nangunguna dala ng 28.6 Mbps nito. Pero nasaan naman ang Pilipinas? Nasa ranggong 100, na may napakabagal na 5.5 Mbps.

Napakalayo natin kumpara sa ibang mga kalapit na bansa sa ASEAN, katulad ng Singapore, na nasa number 7 (20.3 Mbps); Thailand, na nasa number 21 (16 Mbps); Vietnam, na nasa number 58 (9.5 Mbps); Malaysia, na nasa number 62 (8.9 Mbps); at Indonesia, na nasa number 77 (7.2 Mbps).

Talagang napag-iiwanan na tayo. Kung kumakaripas ng takbo ang internet sa South Korea o sa Singapore, gumagapang ang sa atin.

Noong 2016, itinatayang mahigit sa 3 bilyong katao na ang konektado sa internet, kasama na tayo roon. Halos kalahati na ng populasyon sa buong mundo ang gumagamit ng internet, at China ang bansang may pinakamaraming users nito. Sinasabing higit pa ang bilang ng internet users sa China kaysa sa pinagsamang gumagamit nito sa Estados Unidos, India, at Japan.

Binago nito ang pamumuhay natin, ginawang mas mabilis ang takbo ng pang-araw-araw na buhay at ng kalakaran. Sa ibang mga industriya, parang oxygen na ang turing sa internet connection: kung wala ito, patay ang negosyo. Sinabi rin ng World Bank na di karangyaan ngayon ang broadband o high-speed internet, kundi pangangailangan sa maunlad na at umuunlad pa lamang na mga bansa.

Halimbawa, kung mabilis lang talaga ang internet natin at abot ito sa mga liblib na barrio, malayo ang mararating ng edukasyon at impormasyon para sa nakararami. Di na kakailanganing tumawid ng mga sapa o ilog, o di kaya’y maalikabok na daan, marating lang ang paaralang magtuturo ng bagong kaalaman.

Mas marami ring trabaho ang malilikha nito sa ICT o information communication technology at sa iba pang mga sektor. Mas maraming trabaho, mas tataas ang productivity ng mga mamamayan.

Sa tindi ng traffic ngayon, napakaraming oras ang nasasayang sa kalsada. Kung mabilis sana ang internet sa buong bansa, mas magiging katotohanan ang “work-from-home” bill o ang Telecommuting Act of 2017 na inaprubahan ng Senado noong Mayo. Sa halip na makipagsapalaran nang ilang oras sa traffic, magiging posible nang magtrabaho mula sa bahay. Bawas pa ito sa mismong traffic.

Kung susuriin din ang kontribusyon at impact ng internet sa pag-unlad ng mga ekonomiya at pagbuti ng kabuhayan, dapat seryosohin ng pamahalaan ang pagpapabuti nito. Sabi nga ng isang pag-aaral ng McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) noon pang 2011: “The Internet accounted for 21 percent of GDP growth over the last five years among the developed countries MGI studied, a sharp acceleration from the 10 percent contribution over 15 years.” Kabilang sa mga pinag-aralan ang Group of Eight (G-8) nations, bukod pa sa Brazil, China, India, South Korea, at Sweden.

Sapat ang ebidensyang dapat palawakin ang broadband at pabilisin ang makupad nating internet. Inaprubahan ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte ang plano para sa isang national broadband network, na tinatayang magkakahalagang $1.5 bilyon hanggang $4 bilyon (P77 bilyon hanggang P200 bilyon). Tiyak na kakailanganin ng gobyerno ang partisipasyon ng pribadong sektor sa napakalaking proyektong ito.

Sa 2020 raw, di bababa sa 10 Mbps ang internet connection natin, at magiging mas mura ito kaysa kasalukuyang P1,299 kada buwan. Samantala, konting tiis at tihaya pa, at sorry muna, Jack Ma. – Rappler.com

In 2016, I noticed that many doctors were campaigning for Rodrigo Duterte. It was odd, because drug addicts are ill, and here you had healers supporting a man who preferred them dead. That many of these doctors wanted a war on drugs that targeted users instead of medical intervention struck me as contrary to the Hippocratic Oath. Drug addicts are patients, not cockroaches.

I asked an anti-Duterte friend from PGH why he thought many of his colleagues were duped by our scammer in chief. “Most of us were trained as technicians,” he said. “Few have any appreciation of humanism because we did not study the liberal arts. So some of us tend to lack empathy.” My friend’s answer explains more than just the behavior of pro-Duterte doctors. 

A lot of people dismiss the liberal arts and humanities as useless. Its critics ask how courses like literature, philosophy, and history help you work and make money (they do, but that topic is for another piece). Our results-oriented education makes us forget that we go to school, especially college, not simply to learn how to do things, but to become better citizens and better people. The humanities do this through the power of the written word.

In the 15^th century, the term “humanist” referred to philosophical treasure hunters who rummaged through old libraries and monasteries to recover works from ancient Greece and Rome. The Italain Poggio Bracciolini, for example, found the work of the Roman philosopher Lucretius – an Epicurean who had an early theory of atoms – by copying the ancient text from paper that had already been overlaid with religious text (they used ancient correction tape to erase the earlier text). The process was laborious, and the humanists took great pains to ensure fidelity to original and legibility of script (in fact, modern day typography is still based on the elegant penmanship of the humanists).

The humanists venerated texts because they knew that reading changes people. Perhaps at no time did the power of reading become more obvious than in the 18^th century. It was at the time when a new literary form, the novel, had spread.

Novels are special because they allow you to enter the minds of other people. The novel does this better than any other medium. Even film can’t compete, because, although the camera captures visual detail, it cannot unfold inner lives as well as the novelist’s pen.

Good novelists create a mind meld between you and their characters. And thinking what others think, feeling what they feel – that’s called empathy. Reading novels is empathy training.

So it is no wonder, explains historian Lynne Hunt, that the French Declaration of the Rights of Man – the first declaration of human rights – was written in the 18^th century, at a time when more and more people were reading novels. Human rights are, after all, premised on empathy. To respect the right to life and liberty of people different from you requires imagination. The Dutertian who cannot see the world through the eyes of drug war victims lacks that imagination.

The link between human rights and the novel was present in the Philippines as well. The first person to translate the French Declaration into Tagalog was himself a novelist, an empathetic and sensitive man by the name of Jose Rizal. He translated the declaration to prepare the Philippines for eventual separation from Spain, believing that true independence did not simply require freedom from a colonizer, but freedom from the indignity of a society that does not feel.

That someone like Rizal, who could enter the mind of a poor Indio mother like Sisa or a landless farmer like Cabesang Tales, believed in human rights is hardly surprising. He was not only a novelist; he was also a man steeped in the humanist tradition. His imagination and feeling were broadened by the study of the arts.

I have argued before and will continue to insist that a society that celebrates a criminal against humanity like Duterte is a society in a moral rut. Part of that moral rut stems from a lack of moral imagination. And that imagination is retarded further by our narrow, vocational view of education. We produce technicians before citizens, workers before human beings.

In public forums, I often get asked how progressive Filipinos can restore faith in human rights and democracy after this nightmare of Dutertismo. In the short run, the solution is to stop electing murderous demagogues. In the long run, the solution is to collectively read and write better stories. – Rappler.com

Lisandro E. Claudio (@leloyclaudio on Twitter) teaches history at De La Salle University. He is the host of Rappler.com’s web series Basagan ng Trip.

It's been 5-and-a-half years since Rappler went live online. From the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona to reporting from ground zero of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), Rappler remains steadfast in its commitment to report the truth, with no agenda.

But in the age of post-truth and fake news, how can journalism thrive?

We talked to artists Joey Ayala, Raymund Marasigan, Cherry Pie Picache, Kai Honasan, and Eco del Rio and asked them why they turn to Rappler for their news fix.

We'd like to know why you read Rappler. If you want to support independent journalism, click rappler.com/support. – Rappler.com

To be a soldier’s wife is to follow a code. Don’t cry if your husband is wounded. Be strong for him. Be brave for your children. Hide your pain. Mask your fear.

“The older wives whose husbands were wounded before advised us that no matter what, we should not let our husbands see us cry,’’ said Nehcil, whose husband has been in the service for 10 years.

Seeing you cry will make him feel sorry for himself. It will make him lose hope. It will weaken his resolve to get well.

It was October 18 when Nehcil, 27, woke up to Facebook messages from the other wives in her husband’s squad. The men had been attacked and 13 were wounded, 3 critically. One of them was her 31-year-old husband, Paul Vincent, squad leader of Charlie Company.

The day before, President Rodrigo Duterte was in Marawi City and had declared the city “liberated”.

Terrorist leaders Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute were dead and for the first time since May 23 it seemed that the end of the war was near. The siege that displaced more than 300,000 people, killed more than 200 people including 47 civilians, and left thousands wounded had dragged on for 5 months. Finally, it was going to come to an end.

Colonel Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of Joint Task Force Ranao based in Marawi City said that clearing operations would continue to find the last remaining 30 fighters and free the estimated 18 civilians they held hostage.

“Now that we have neutralized the two leaders, we expect the whole Maute-IS group to be neutralized,” said Brawner.

The men of the Charlie Company heaved a sigh of relief as they were about to turn in that evening. Many had been on the battlefield for 5 months straight and were eager to go home.

The same night, a group of enemy fighters pounced just as they had just settled in to sleep in one of the bullet-riddled buildings that served as outpost and sleeping area.

In the dark and in the chaos, the soldiers could not see exactly how many fighters there were. The men were taken in a vulnerable position and scrambled to get a stronghold on the enemy while fighting to protect those who had been wounded. 

The men described the fighters as being on a rampage, firing indiscriminately.

“It was as if they were on a last ditch suicide mission,” said sergeant Marty, 37. “We couldn’t see anything because it was dark. All we heard were the bullets and some of them shouting: “You will all die. We will finish you all!”.

It was Marty’s second time to be wounded. The first time shrapnel scraped his hands and arms. This time he took a bullet in his left thigh.

Lying on the bed next to Sergeant Marty was Private First Class John. His right foot was bandaged and elevated; a bullet had gone through the sole of his foot, smashing bone and tearing flesh. They were still lucky, said John. No one died from the attack, but there were those critically wounded.

Worried

Pregnant with her third child, Nehcil felt her knees crumple when she received the news that her husband Paul Vincent had been wounded. Chills swept over her body and her mother wrapped her in a blanket to warm her and control her shivering.

Nehcil refused to answer the ringing of her phone. If they were calling to bring her more bad news, she did not want to hear it. She only read SMS messages to limit unnecessary conversation.

When she finally got to speak to Paul Vincent, he downplayed his injuries and said that one bullet had just grazed his belly and another his side. There was no need to come to the hospital.

Nehcil didn’t believe him. Especially since she received a message from Carmina. Her husband, Claudio, was also critically wounded and was in the intensive care unit.

Typhoon Paolo had just begun to barrel through the Philippines when Nehcil and Carmina got on a boat and travelled more than a day to get from their village in Samar to the Sanitarium Hospital in Iligan where their husbands were being cared for.

“The waves were so big because of the typhoon. I kept vomiting from sea sickness. I prayed that nothing would happen to us while we made our way to our husbands,” said Nehcil.

During their journey, Nehcil kept in close contact with Ate Jane.

Ate Jane was one of the women in the wives’ chat group. She was the former spouse of one of the soldiers and had gotten to know the other wives when she lived in Samar with her then husband. Since they separated, she moved back to Iligan, but maintained close friendships with the wives.

It was their Ate Jane who took control of the situation until the wives arrived, visiting the hospital, taking notes from doctors, and diligently reported back to the women.

“We don’t know what we would have done without Ate Jane. We don’t know anyone here in Iligan,” said Nehcil.

Paul Vincent was surprised to wake up from surgery and find Nehcil at his side. The bullets had more than just grazed his stomach and side, as Nehcil had earlier feared, but he was going to recover.

The first thing Paul Vincent asked her was how their two small children were doing.

Then they both allowed themselves to cry. – Rappler.com

There’s a lot to be said about a society that’s hung up about titles. What does it say about us and our democracy? Join history teacher Leloy Claudio as he exposes the absurd boasting behind these titles. – Rappler.com

MORE ON 'BASAGAN NG TRIP'

On using the term 'Filipino'

Is human rights relevant to Filipinos?

Whom to trust – journalists or social media stars?

What liberalism, LP, and yellow really mean 

Is Islam violent?

Why a depreciating Philippine peso might be a good thing

What's the government's problem with ride-sharing companies?

Ferdinand Marcos’ great ideas, bad executions

I live near the Manila South Cemetery. During All Saints’ Day, it’s a literal fiesta in our place. 

Every November 1, out come the buntings and loud music. The sidewalks outside and inside the cemetery become a street hawker’s paradise. Nowadays it’s not only flowers, candles, and street food. They also sell toys, clothes, shoes, bags and electronic gadgets.

Street sales are so lucrative that even the major fastfood outlets put up shop along the bangketa. With so many people flowing in and out the cemetery, it’s usually a riot.

Remembering the killed

But this year’s undas was different. It was unusually somber. There were significantly fewer people who trooped to the cemetery. My suki in the market said many vendors lost money due to the lower turnout.

I wonder, was it just the rain or was it because for the past year-and-a-half, our people had seen so much death courtesy of Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, that remembering the dead on November 1 seemed superfluous?

Perhaps for many, November 1, 2017 was less an “Araw ng Patay” and more an “Araw ng Pinatay.”

The numbers have become fuzzy, owing to the PNP’s shifting definitions and reporting systems. The official body count, according to the government’s #realnumbersPH site, is 3,967 “drug personalities who died in anti-drug operations” from July 1, 2016 to October 25, 2017.

Earlier data from the PNP on Oplan Double Barrel, however, showed the following figures from July 1, 2016 to January 31, 2017 alone: 7,080 total killed, of which 2,555 were “suspected drug personalities killed in police operations,” 3,603 were “deaths under investigation (DUI)” and 922 were deaths with concluded investigations. Since then, the PNP has come up with confusing, sometimes contradictory, numbers on the killings.

Not surprisingly, the official figures via #realnumbersPH now ignore the numerous vigilante-style killings of suspected drug users and dealers, previously labelled DUIs, which human rights watchdogs estimate could reach more than 5,000 by this time.

Many of the extrajudicial killings (EJKs), whether in police or vigilante operations, are believed to be perpetrated by the police themselves, their death squads, or well-placed drug syndicates who have found a convenient cover to obliterate the competition. This is the reason why authorities ignore or refuse to properly investigate cases of EJKs.

With their killers often going scot-free and even praised and rewarded for the deed, victims of EJKs are doomed to seeking justice in the afterlife.

The living dead

But it's the living families of the killed who also need remembering. Most of the EJK victims are breadwinners of extremely poor families. Their death leaves the family more impoverished, marginalized and desperate as ever.

The group Rise Up for Life and Rights (Rise Up), composed of families of EJK victims and church groups, has realized that the widows and children left behind need not just protection, spiritual guidance, moral support and legal services, but more importantly, livelihood assistance.

Given the stigma attached to the families of EJK victims and the continuous vilification they get when they demand justice, they are often left out of government-funded livelihood programs. Many have simply left their communities in the hope of starting a new life. Such dislocation creates a new set of problems.

And what of the children and young siblings of those killed? Under such dire circumstances of poverty, injustice and marginalization, they will most likely grow up angry, desperate, lacking in productive skills, and thus prone to a life of crime and anti-social activities. A vicious cycle it truly is.

As family members of EJK victims often say, "Para n'yo na rin kaming pinatay." (It's almost like you killed us.)

The victims’ victims

Supporters of the drug war justify the killings by citing the plight of the victims of drug-crazed rapists and mass murderers. In fact, it’s in their name that Duterte wants the drug addicts and pushers dead. I myself believe that serial rapists and killers deserve a fate worse than death. 

But then we have to ask, how many of those killed in the drug war – whether 3,000 or 7,000 or 12,000 – were actually rapists or killers? I haven’t heard of any of the EJK victims being actually accused of such heinous crimes. And if ever, we will never know their innocence or guilt because they’re already dead.

In most cases, rape, murder and homicide are committed while under the influence of alcohol. Should we start killing alcoholics as well, including dealers and manufacturers of beer and hard drinks?

Are the victims and families of drug-related crimes happy about the widespread killing of people who may or may not be drug pushers or addicts? I doubt it.

The surveys show that people support the drug war but not the killings. I think they would rather see criminals arrested, properly investigated, publicly tried, sentenced, and punished as the law prescribes.

Getting used to death

This year’s All Saints' Day was gloomy not only in terms of the weather but in the context of Duterte’s de facto policy of EJKs. He might deny it, but up until last week, the President was telling his men to kill those sons of bitches. The only caveat was to not do it while the suspects are kneeling and begging for their lives.

If not for the rain, I’m sure the cemeteries would have been packed this year, with a few more thousand people visiting the graves of the EJK victims. And with the PNP poised to resume part III of its anti-drug campaign, we should brace for more killings and more families mourning the death of their loved ones, justice, and the rule of law. – Rappler.com

The national budget is perhaps the most boring topic you can be assigned to as a journalist. 

Every now and then we come across juicy scandals that generate buzz such as the pork barrel scam and the controversy around the Aquino administration's Development Acceleration Program (DAP). For the most part, however, covering the national budget involves a lot of clerical, sometimes even "janitorial" work.

While our colleagues are off to exciting coverages, we are left behind poring over pages and pages of thick, heavy tomes that very few people really bother to read. In the past, we had to tag noteworthy things in those budget documents with post-its for future reference and then encode those numbers in spreadsheets to make them easier to analyze.

Thankfully, the big tomes were eventually supplemented with PDF files and later with actual spreadsheets and databases uploaded to the website of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). But that still did not eliminate a lot of the janitorial and data-cleaning work we needed to do before we could even get to the analysis and writing part.

The worst part of it: when we finally come up with our stories, they (understandably) do not fare as well as the stories on lawmakers feasting lasciviously on a fellow lawmaker's alleged affair. They certainly do not fare as well as the stories like social media personality Xander Ford's physical transformation or Baron Geisler's latest fight.

There are exceptions to this: the times when we investigated the latest budget scam. But that does not always happen. The reality is, most budget stories will not get those pageviews and clicks. And so from a business standpoint, why do we keep on writing those stories? Why spend time doing independent, time-consuming research on the budget?

Because it needs to be done. The stories need to be told. And this topic is one of those essential things that the public needs to be constantly informed about. We believe in this so much, that we even produced a microsite devoted to it. 

Boring they may be, but the national budget documents tell the story of how our money – the thousands of pesos that we never get our hands on because they automatically get deducted from our salaries – is supposed to be spent. And if spent on meaningful programs, they could make a big difference in people's lives. 

And if we don't spend time reviewing and analyzing those thick, boring pages, we will probably not find that one single line item, purposely tucked away under some weird sounding name, which could mean more of our hard-earned money going to wasteful or even non-existent projects.

And so, at Rappler, we keep trying.

And we make the effort to help people understand how the process works and where their money goes via visualizations like the budget tracker, and game-inspired executions like "Craft your own budget" and "Slides and Ladders: Understand the budget process." 

At the height of the pork barrel scam, we mapped the distribution of the priority development assistance fund (PDAF), just to check if it was really performing its intended "equalizing" function as claimed by the ponente of a 1994 Supreme Court ruling.

We illustrated how the pork barrel scam works through Pork Tales, an illustrated story about the players and the modus operandi that allowed Janet Napoles and many lawmakers to blatantly steal billions in funds from public coffers. We stayed with the story and monitored lawmakers mentioned in the Commission on Audit's report on the PDAF who won in the 2016 elections.

The investigative reports, the explanatory pieces, and the sustained reporting on the budget are all part of the effort to keep the public aware of how our money is being spent.  

We hope to keep doing stories like these. To do that, we need your support. – Rappler.com

We at Rappler are extremely thankful that on this day, the International Day to End Impunity Against Journalists, our work and our struggles are being recognized by the National Democratic Institute here in the United States and, just a few hours earlier, in Amsterdam by the Free Press Unlimited.

I’ve been a journalist for more than 3 decades, and as a conflict reporter, war zone correspondent, I've never gotten as many threats as I get now as a founder of Rappler. So you know we're living through through a moment of history.

This is one of those moments, where the mission of journalism has never been stronger – and despite the online and the offline attacks against us, we find the courage to hold the line.

I’ve had the privilege to report on people power movements and the end of one-man authoritarian rule through much of Southeast Asia, starting with people power in the Philippines in 1986. It was an exciting time to start my career.

5-and-a-half years ago, we started Rappler with the belief that technology – social media – strengthens people power exponentially. And we rode the crest of social media adoption – growing 100 to 300% in our first few years – quickly becoming one of our country’s top online news sites. We scaled fast because of social media.

The Philippines is a Facebook country – nearly 97% of all Filipinos online (you're talking about roughly 58 million Filipinos) 97% are on Facebook. It is our public space – one that – when Rappler began – truly strengthened democracy and empowered us. We were proof of social media for social good.

Perhaps because we lived online, we were the first to document the weaponization of social media from July to August of 2016.

Today, I watch with horror as authoritarian leaders in many countries around the world use social media’s exponential power to spread propaganda, use anger and hate, to manipulate their people and to create alternative realities.

Like many, I fear that the pendulum of democracy is swinging the other way globally, enabled by social media.

In the Philippines, the failure of elite politics to deliver democracy’s promise paved the way for the rise of Rodrigo Duterte and a drug war that’s killed thousands. I can’t give you the exact number because that certainty is also a casualty in our war for truth.

When we published our social media propaganda series in Oct 2016, we proved the online ripple, using investigative journalism to ferret out and show – for example - how 26 fake accounts can impact up to 3 million other Facebook accounts in the Philippines.

Right after that series was published, we were pounded by online attacks. For about a month, I received an average of about 90 hate messages per hour.

Data that we’ve collected in nearly two years show how disinformation was deployed by what we now call the propaganda machine.

We're six months ahead of you: we elected our president 6 months before you did.

When a lie is said 10 times, Truth has a chance to catch up…but when it’s repeated a million times, it becomes the Truth – especially when it’s backed by online state-sponsored hate exploiting the fracture lines of society – among them in the PH, the gaps between the rich and the poor, the rural provinces against imperial Manila.

Journalists are no longer the gatekeepers to the public space. We’ve lost that role.

To the tech companies running their platforms, I appeal to you to take action – be transparent…to be accountable. You’ve built a city. Now put the traffic lights in place so that the cars don't crash into each other. Stop the impunity.

We are seeing free speech used as an excuse for posts that incite hate and violence deployed against people like me - against the journalists, activists, and anyone perceived to be critical of government.

The excuse of free speech is being used to stifle free speech.

Rappler is not anti-government; wee are not anti-Duterte. In fact, he recognizes our coverage of his campaign helped get him elected.

We’re journalists, and we will not be intimidated.

To the men and women of Rappler, good morning. This award is for your hard work, your sleepless nights, and most of all, your courage.

We will shine the light.

We will hold the line. – Rappler.com

The Supreme Court’s Temporary Restraining Order on contraceptives is almost lifted. Almost.

Thursday, November 2, was supposed to bring a decision that would end the temporary restraining order (TRO) that led to the gradual phasing out of hormonal contraceptives.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is about to finish its evaluation of 51 contraceptives and was expected to issue a resolution by October 30, 2017.

This was one of the requirements stipulated by the Supreme Court to lift the 40-month TRO on contraceptives the High Court had imposed starting June 2015. (Another requirement of the Court, revising certain provisions of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the RH Law will be the subject of another column.)

But the FDA did not issue the resolution yet. Instead, the members of the Reproductive Law national implementation team who gathered for a press conference earlier today were informed that the FDA was ready to recertify 35 contraceptive brands and was still discussing the remaining 16 brands.

"We eagerly look forward to the certification of these 51 contraceptives as non-abortifacient so that they can be used by the 13 million women who either are using modern methods of family planning or need to use modern methods of family planning," said Esperanza Cabral chairperson of the RH Law National Implementation Team.

Cabral was speaking for the estimated 7 million Filipino women who are on birth control and another 6 million women who need birth control but do not have access to it, and who are just as eager to get the FDA resolution.

So, no champagne, no cigars, no confetti just yet.

Before we go any further, let’s take a quick look back at how we found ourselves in this hot mess of contraceptives disappearing from drug store shelves and public health clinics.

Flashback: The unkindest cut of all

A petition raised by pro-life group Alliance for the Family Foundation (ALFI) asked if sub-dermal implants (a hormonal contraceptive shaped like matchsticks that are inserted in the upper arm and provides contraceptive protection for 3 years) induced abortions. (They don’t.)

The Court issued a TRO on implants until the matter was resolved. When the DOH petitioned to lift the TRO, the Court responded with a decision that effectively expanded the coverage of the TRO:

….effective immediately and continuing until further orders from this Court aTEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER enjoining the respondents, their representatives, agents or other persons acting on their behalf from: [1] granting any and all pending applications for registration and/or recertification for reproductive products and supplies including contraceptive drugs and devices...

Cabral explained this provision, “The consequence is, previously marketed contraceptives could not be marketed anymore after their certificates of registration expire until they go through the process of ‘proving’ that they are not abortifacient.”

In the long list of monkey wrenches thrown at the RH Law, this was the unkindest cut of all.

Why? 

Well, because it is the Supreme Court. The finality of a Supreme Court decision is the closest you will get to forever in this life.

Without being able to procure new contraceptive brands or re-stock existing ones, contraceptives began disappearing, endangering millions of women who need birth control for fertility management, to regulate their periods or manage conditions like polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).

In September, the Supreme Court came out with a judgment with a self-lifting provision of the TRO as soon as the following conditions are met: (1) certification and evaluation by the FDA that contraceptive brands are non-abortifacient and (2) revision of certain provisions on the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the RH Law.

When these conditions are met:

1. The Department of Health (DOH) would again be allowed to procure hormonal contraceptives and restock their public health clinics and hospitals.
2. The DOH would also be allowed to administer the estimated 200,000 sub-dermal implants that have been languishing in their warehouses since the TRO was issued.
3. The implants are scheduled to expire in September 2018. Their shelf life is 11 months and counting.
4. Pharmaceuticals will again be allowed to import new stocks of contraceptive brands and apply for the certification of new brands.

In short, contraceptive supply should start going back to normal. Over time.

For the public health sector, it will take between a year to a year-and-a-half for stocks to normalize. That’s how long it takes for the health department to bid, procure, pay for, and distribute contraceptives and finally make them available to the millions of women who line up at public health centers to get them.

Worst case scenario

If the FDA resolution certifies some brands but does not certify others, it may set a dangerous precedent.

“Internationally, we would be the first country to go against the global assertion that contraceptives are part of the essential medicines list,” said Dr Junice Melgar, executive director of Likhaan Women’s Health Center.

Lawyer Katherine Austria-Lock of the FDA confirmed that the FDA will issue anytime soon the resolution on 35 contraceptive brands but are still evaluating the 16 other brands.

“We will issue the resolution anytime soon but cannot give a date at this time. We are being very careful in the evaluation process because we want to avoid the issuance of another TRO in the future,” said Austria-Lock.

Additionally, DOH secretary Francisco Duque had just been appointed and had to be brought up to speed on the issue.

Duque served as the DOH secretary during the Arroyo Administration which allocated public funds only for natural family planning methods.

“We were getting ready for a victory march,” said Melgar about the much anticipated release of the FDA resolution. “But it may just turn out to be an indignation march.”

Let’s hope not.

We shouldn’t take any chances. We need to make sure the FDA hears our voices. We need to let them that we urgently need them to complete the resolution on the 51 contraceptive brands – the final step in lifting the TRO on contraceptives. This is the last and much needed step to lift the TRO and finally (hopefully) give millions of Filipino men and women rightful access to birth control.

As every woman knows, the words “female empowerment” are nothing more than a cliched advertising tagline unless her autonomy to decide over her own body is respected and protected. – Rappler.com

Ana P. Santos is Rappler’s sex and gender columnist and an independent journalist. In 2014, she was awarded the Miel Fellowship by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in Washington, D.C.

It's a task journalists and researchers have gone through to complete a story: requesting official data from government.

From quick statistics to crucial documents, getting official information is a story in itself. 

We in Rappler, especially those in the Research Team, have experienced a mix of gladness and sadness over acquiring these files. Along the way, we also test the government's commitment towards transparency.

Wealth of public officials

First off, the SALNs or Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth. It's meant to give a peek into the wealth and lifestyle of public officials, with details such as properties they own and their total net worth.

It's such a powerful document that a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has been ousted for not declaring certain assets in his SALN. Just this year, many top officials have been questioned (and almost went through impeachment) over the contents of their SALNs.

From our end, the difficulty of getting SALNs varies, depending on which repository agency you get them from. 

For instance, Malacañang releases SALNs of Cabinet members and other executive officials upon request. So do the Office of the Ombudsman (for the SALN of the President, Vice President, and heads of constitutional bodies) and the deputy ombudsmen in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (for local officials).

The Supreme Court issues SALNs and Personal Data Sheets (PDS) of justices upon request, but only of the current ones. The SC had denied requests for copies of ex-justices' SALNs. But it can be granted if the request contains the considerations under Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials.

So far, the most "uncooperative" institution is the House of Representatives. Every year, it releases summary tables of the assets, liabilities, and net worth of its nearly 300 members, which are useful to determine the richest and poorest lawmakers in the House

However, we have yet to secure the SALN copies of all representatives in bulk from a central source. We have been told to request copies from each congressman. It's a daunting task for us and our interns to follow up on every legislator, even to the point of doing door-to-door visits in the House. 

In contrast, the Senate releases the SALNs of all 24 senators in one go.

Election contributors

Another document used to assess the probity of an elected official is the Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE). Winning and losing candidates are required to list in their SOCEs their election campaign contributors and the amounts they received.

Rappler has written many stories using SOCEs as reference. We reported on the background and clout of certain personalities who donated to campaigns, especially of winning candidates.

We also looked into the limitations and weaknesses of campaign finance rules.

Nonetheless, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has been very helpful and accessible in releasing SOCEs, as well as election results, certificates of candidacy, election-related statistics, and other documents.

FOI experience

It's a good thing that the Freedom of Information (FOI) program has enabled access to data and documents in the entire executive branch. 

To be fair, pre-FOI, we have been able to request for information through request letters sent personally, via fax or via email. Some agencies even upload reports and statistics on their websites regularly. 

President Rodrigo Duterte's Executive Order No. 2 added more features such as an online portal to file FOI requests and a 15-day period for agencies to respond.

Rappler invoked the FOI, for example, in pursuing a story on President Duterte's foreign trips.

Based on our experience, while some agencies still need to iron out their workflows, many have abided by the FOI tenets, such as responding through email or the eFOI portal, and providing requested data promptly. (READ: How serious is the Duterte administration about FOI?)

We had positive FOI experiences in agencies like the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Transportation (DOTr), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), and Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

But we encountered problems in requesting data from the Philippine National Police (PNP). While it provided aggregate figures, it denied our request for breakdowns of the data.

Extending FOI provisions to all branches of government – both national and local – through an enabling law would truly promote the people's right to access to information. Part of this proposed FOI law, for instance, is a provision compelling lawmakers to upload online the full details of their SALNs. The bill remains pending in the House. (READ: Why the Philippines needs a freedom of information law)

It's important to constantly keep an eye on what the government does and what its officials – both elected and appointed – are up to. We should hold them to a higher standard as public servants and our representatives in government.

With the FOI enabling access to information, and despite difficulties we encounter along the way, we at Rappler will continue to keep public officials in check, making them accountable if needed. – Rappler.com

(Sing to the tune of "Himig ng Pag-Ibig" by Asin)
Sa pagsapit ng Undas

– Rappler.com

Artwork by Ernest John Fiestan
Text by Marguerite de Leon

#FridayFeels is a cartoon series by the Rappler Creatives Team. Cathartic, light, but relevant, it's a welcome break from your heavy news feed! You can pitch illustration ideas by sending a message to the Rappler Facebook page.

With the automation of elections in the Philippines, election coverage was fueled by one important element: data. Lots and lots of data.

I have covered two national elections, the first in May 2013 – just a month into my employment. Talk about "baptism of fire." But my interest in elections made me excited about it.

Data powered my first election stories for Rappler's #PHVote coverage. I wrote about the fewer number of independent candidates in 2013, the mayor-vice mayor "switcheroo" attempts, and the mayor-vs-vice mayor contests in local polls.

Shortly after Election Day, I was stationed at the PICC for the senatorial and party list canvasses, helping update Rappler's official results page.

I then assisted the Research Team in debunking the alleged "60-30-10" pattern that supposedly emerged in the senatorial race. (READ: High-tech vote watching: Going beyond 60-30-10)

Beyond the numbers, my colleague, Paterno Esmaquel II, and I teamed up in covering the Commission on Elections (Comelec) itself. I was witness to some of Comelec's inner workings and got acquainted with election executives and staff, as well as fellow reporters.

In 2015, a transition in leadership took place at Comelec – from Sixto Brillantes Jr to Andres "Andy" Bautista. From that time until his resignation in 2017, Bautista's relationship with election stakeholders was both smooth and tenuous. 

While he, as chairman, welcomed new ideas in the conduct of the polls, Bautista also made some decisions that rattled watchdogs, newsrooms, and voters alike.

2016 polls

The 2016 elections proved to be more challenging for Rappler and for me, too. Exciting presidential and vice presidential races meant more eyes on the news, and faster transmission of votes demanded quicker analyses.

From the vote-counting machines in over 90,000 clustered precincts, millions of rows of data were transmitted to Comelec servers. News outfits like Rappler connected to these servers to reflect the Filipino vote in real time through maps and charts. 

While all of this was happening, we made sense of the data not only on a national scale but also all the way down to the precinct level.

Every vote counts, especially in the 2016 elections. On the evening after polls closed, we watched as the votes for the VP race poured in, in what seemed to us would be a "hairline gap" between candidates Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr and Leni Robredo. Even then, we realized what such close gap could mean in the months ahead.

Reports of alleged cheating in the VP elections after a cosmetic change in the script due to the "ñ" character were not supported by data, as attested by experts and Rappler's own analysis.

We also checked out issues concerning "zero votes," undervotes, overseas Filipino votes, and precincts with 100% voter turnout, which are related to the VP race. For instance, we noted that the behavior of voters with regard to undervoting has been essentially the same in the last two presidential polls. We also said that all of the VP bets benefited from their opponents getting "zero votes" in their respective bailiwicks.

Using election data, we said that "poll cheating" allegations in Quezon province didn't add up. We also pointed out some precincts that were "dropped" in the process of updating transmitted election results between Comelec's transparency and mirror servers. All candidates were affected by this glitch, but all was not lost, because the results files were still saved (and backed up) in other servers.

We later examined the electoral protest of losing VP bet Marcos against Vice President Robredo using a method to generate "election fingerprints" in areas covered in the said protest. (READ 1st of two parts: 2016 Bongbong vs Leni poll protest: What ARMM 'election fingerprints' say)

Before, after, beyond

Besides real-time processing of results on Election Day, Rappler also went all out in providing Filipinos with relevant information before and after the polls.

We gave a rundown of how the entire automated election system works. We also partnered with election watchdogs for voter education campaigns.

We in the Research Team provided fact checks and contexts during the presidential and vice presidential debates. We tracked the ups and downs of each candidate in opinion surveys as the campaign rolled on. 

We likewise looked into news like the biometrics requirement in voter registration, politicians "taking shortcuts" to Congress via the party-list system, and the procurement of vote-counting machines, which comes with it the controversies that again put its provider, Smartmatic, on the spot.

In addition, Rappler explored the trends in past elections, using data from the last two automated polls. We flagged a possible voter registration anomaly in the ARMM, listed lessons learned from transmission problems in 2013, and checked whether there are "traces" left by "election thieves" in past polls.

After Election Day, our data analysis continued. But other events were unfolding as well, like the Liberal Party's delay in submitting campaign contributions and expenditures, the filing of electoral protests by local bets, and the postponement of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.

'Comeleak'

Then along came the massive hack affecting voter registration records in March 2016. Comelec was initially concerned about the defacement of its website that accompanied the breach. We investigated and found out that aside from the voters’ lists, the personal information of over 70 million Filipino voters – both active and deactivated ones – was also leaked online.

Experts couldn't emphasize enough the threats to Filipinos' online security following the incident. We found our names and personal details in it! Privacy officials later found Bautista liable for the voters' data leak. (READ: What have we learned a year since 'Comeleak')

This incident was among the grounds cited in the impeachment complaint against Bautista filed in September 2017. However, the proceedings didn't push through as President Rodrigo Duterte accelerated his resignation to late October. Bautista would have wanted to stay until the end of 2017 but the President accepted it "effective immediately." 

National elections in the Philippines happen only every 3 years, but the news surrounding it seem to go on and on. With the 4th automated elections coming up in May 2019, as well as the manual barangay and SK elections in May 2018, and with your support, Rappler will keep you posted on important developments, backed by data and insightful research. – Rappler.com

On October 23, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte led the launching of Tapang and Malasakit, an alliance aimed at uniting Filipinos against what she described as "destructive politics."

Many took it as a counter to Tindig Pilipinas, an opposition bloc composed of minority lawmakers, civil society groups, and former government officials from the previous administration. Social media was quick to pit the two groups against each other, complete with an online poll for netizens to choose which of the two they think is better.

The image of the two alliances side by side circulating on social media is quite interesting, if not disturbing. Beyond the difference in the symbols they use, Tindig Pilipinas fashioning the Hunger Games salute while the Tapang and Malasakit alliance donning the usual Duterte fist, they actually have one thing in common: bad political branding.

Tindig Pilipinas, while composed of credible oppositionists like Senator Risa Hontiveros, is packed with personalities closely associated with the previous administration. Despite its decision to wear the color white, it is widely perceived as a Yellow-led movement, carryovers of the previous government and, thus, a stark reminder to the public of the prior administration's flaws, failures, and overt self-righteousness.

On the other hand, Tapang at Malasakit is led by widely discredited political figures such as current Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, ousted from the presidency by a popular uprising and convicted of plunder, and Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos, the unrepentant daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Despite its use of a powerful message such as "unity," some of the key personalities behind Tapang at Malasakit are actually very divisive. Their mere presence contradicts the already crumbling anti-corruption and unity rhetoric of the Duterte government.

Both political formations suffer from a lack of brand authenticity. Authenticity as a brand is the perceived consistency of a political formation's core principles and beliefs as translated into popular messages conveyed by credible and persuasive communicators.

Authenticity needed

Authenticity is not simply a brand descriptor, it is the political brand. It is accessible and relatable. It is emotional and unconventional; its message, disruptive. And this is where the two political alliances suffer. Both are perceived as led by traditional politicians, both are seen as inauthentic and self-serving, both lack a compelling narrative to mobilize the people into action, and both are merely speaking to their respective echo chambers.

Despite their efforts to differentiate themselves from one another, both operate in well-established conventions and norms. The two political groups may sit on opposing ends of the political spectrum, yet seem to be mirror images of each other. Tindig Pilipinas reminds the people of the failure of EDSA democracy. Tapang at Malasakit represents two regimes booted out of power by two EDSA people power revolts.

Of course, it can be argued that any political formation is better than an alliance led by a convicted plunderer and the daughter of a dictator. However, such a summation does not inspire confidence from the people. The people are left to choose between two bad brands or in this case, the nation's "last card." Such a situation actually favors President Rodrigo Duterte. In the absence of a credible alternative, this stalemate of sorts breeds cynicism, apathy and, ultimately, inaction. Worse, the people will just default to the status quo.

So where do we find the alternative? The Makabayan bloc composed of the Bayan Muna group of party-list organizations is fashioning itself as a third pole. However, this group is suffering from a deep credibility crisis as a result of its unholy alliance with Duterte. The Makabayan bloc is widely perceived to have assisted in the rise of this authoritarian and murderous regime. They clung to the petty shreds of favor given them by their fascist ally and only started to discuss cutting ties with Duterte when their appointed cabinet officials were rejected. It was not about the rampant killings.

That it took 13,000 dead people before they decided to "cut ties" with Duterte speaks of their conscience and sense of humanity they have. They have traded principles for convenience, consistency for crass political opportunism. And even in light of all these issues, it is worth asking if they have really severed ties with the current dispensation.

Beyond 'Yellow vs Dutertard'

This therefore puts Tindig Pilipinas in a very difficult position. It must either rebrand itself or sink into oblivion. The challenge for Tindig Pilipinas is to go beyond a change of colors and symbols. Rebranding requires the group to politically reposition itself to create a distance from the negative connotations it calls to mind, or the political baggage it carried. It needs to put the people, particularly young people, at the front and center of its movement.

It needs to go beyond the "Yellow vs Dutertard" discourse. Its politicians, no matter how sincere, must take the backseat in order to give rise to a genuine people-led movement armed with a strong element of spontaneity and profound sense of volunteerism. We have seen this recently when the millennials took the leadership of the campaign to block the hero's burial of Marcos. It was pure, raw, and authentic.

And this is where the millennials must step in. The country's current state of affairs demands a strong millennial opposition. This however can only be the product of serious grassroots organizing. Filipino millennials are not beholden to traditional political forces. They can act as the conscience bloc of the broad opposition movement, constantly reminding their adult counterparts of their shared values and principles, leading the struggle and pushing it to the limits when others are wavering or dillydallying.

Today's young people, inexperienced yet ready to fight, must teach their elders that there is more to opposition politics than simply the politics of addition. A genuine opposition is about consistency of principle and purpose. It is about integrity. To become a credible opposition, Tindig Pilipinas must build and embrace this political brand and the youth must be its face and voice. – Rappler.com

*Emmanuel M. Hizon is a political communications specialist with more than 10 years of experience in political communications, content development, and brand management. He has worked with the national and local electoral campaigns of several politicians acting as political communications director and consultant.

Among the taxes in the Philippines, estate tax is probably the most ignored.  

In legal parlance, the properties left by a dead person (otherwise known as "decedent") are collectively called "estate," hence the estate tax.

Usually, the heirs realize the need to pay the estate tax after years or even decades have passed from the decedent’s death.

For instance, a person with substantial properties died in 2007 and the estate tax (if paid on time) would have been P50,000. However, the heirs were not mindful of estate tax.

Today, 10 years later, a potential buyer of the property approaches the heirs. Since the estate tax will have to be settled first before the property can be sold, the heirs will now compute the tax. With the penalties, the P50,000 originally due will now inflate to around P170,000.

The buyer may be willing to advance the estate tax on the condition that it will be deducted from the selling price. However, the heirs will insist that the buyer must pay the estate tax on top of the selling price. Sometimes, this sole issue results in the collapse of the sale negotiation.

To avoid this unfortunate situation, it is advisable for the heirs to settle the estate tax within the deadline. If they do not have sufficient cash, they may request for an extension of time to pay or apply for installment payment.

Notice of death

The first obligation of the heirs under the Tax Code is to give a written Notice of Death to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) within two months after the death.

The Notice of Death shall be filed with the BIR’s local office (Revenue District Office or RDO) that has jurisdiction over the place of decedent's residence at the time of death.

If the decedent is not a resident of the Philippines, the Notice of Death should be filed with the BIR office in South Quezon City (RDO Number 39).

Filing of return and payment of estate tax

Place of filing

Like the Notice of Death, the estate tax return shall be filed with the RDO (or other offices authorized by the BIR) in the city or municipality where the decedent was a resident at the time of death. 

For a non-resident decedent (residing abroad at the time of death), the estate tax return is generally filed with RDO No. 39 in Quezon City.

Deadline of filing 

The return should be filed within 6 months after the death. In meritorious cases, an extension of not more than 30 days may be granted by the BIR.

Deadline of payment 

The estate tax shall also be paid at the same time the return is filed.

Payment by installment 

The BIR may allow the payment by installment. However, the computation of estate tax shall always consider the entire estate and the corresponding penalty shall be imposed on any amount paid after the due date.

Extension of time to pay 

The BIR may allow an extension of time to pay the estate tax.

The extension should not exceed 5 years in case the estate is settled through the court, or two years in case the estate is settled extrajudicially through the execution of an extrajudicial settlement.

Penalty  

The late payment of estate tax will lead to the imposition of 25% to 50% surcharge, 20% interest per year, and a compromise penalty.

Computation of estate tax

Gross estate 

It is the total value of all properties belonging to the decedent at the time of his or her death.

For citizens and resident foreigners, the gross estate consists of real and personal property regardless of location. Personal property includes tangible and intangible property like shares of stocks.

For non-resident foreigners, the gross estate comprises only of property located within the Philippines.

Deductions

The estate tax will not be based on the entire estate but on the net taxable estate. To arrive at net taxable estate, a number of deductions/expenses are allowed to be deducted from the gross estate.

The common deductions/expenses that may be availed of by the heirs are:

• Funeral expenses (maximum of P200,000)
• Fees of the accountant and/or lawyers who assisted the heirs
• Unpaid debts of the decedent
• Standard deduction of P1,000,000 (no substantiation required)
• Medical expenses within one year before death (maximum of P500,000)
• Family home (maximum of P1,000,000)

Net taxable estate

This is the remaining amount after deducting the applicable deductions/expenses from the gross estate.

Estate tax rates

After computing the net taxable estate, the rates below are applied to arrive at estate tax due.

Based on the table, a net taxable estate not exceeding P200,000 is exempt from estate tax. Any amount in excess of P200,000 shall be subject to graduated estate tax rate of 5% to 20%. – Rappler.com

This article is for general information only. If you have any question or comment regarding this article, you may email the author at egialogo.gdlaw@gmail.com or call 09178718642.

Attorney Edward G. Gialogo is the managing partner of Gialogo Dela Fuente & Associates. He is also a tax speaker in Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He was an Associate Director in the Tax Services of SyCip Gorres Velayo & Company.

In Catholic Churches in the Philippines, the faithful often sit back and listen to what is presented as biblical truth. The Gospel readings often end with the declaration, “This is the word of the Lord."

Because of this, faithful followers dare not question the priests who proclaim the gospel because they are seen as acting in the person of the head of the Catholic Church, Jesus Christ himself.

The Catholic Church in the Philippines counts at least 80,304,061 followers or 80% of the entire Philippine population, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority. Also in the millions is the home-grown Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) which has about 2.3 Filipinos followers.

No doubt the faithful listen. They listen when they are taught how life should be lived or which leaders they should vote for.

They listened when Jaime Cardinal Sin, together with those who opposed the Marcos dictatorship, rallied millions to EDSA to put a peaceful end to decades of martial law in 1986. They heeded again, years later, another call to topple yet another leader, Joseph Estrada, who was ousted from the presidency in 2001.

No doubt the Catholic Church and INC are among the country’s most influential institutions. Wielding power from the truth they espouse, these religions are, however, also prone to controversies and abuse.

But more often than not, they are left unchecked because of how they are revered as institutions beyond question. This has not stopped us, however, from checking on reported abuses – even if it means being at the receiving end of hate and threats.

Pushing for transparency, accountability

The late award-winning investigative journalist Aries Rufo set the bar for covering issues involving the Church. In 2013, he published the book "Altar of Secrets” which exposed sexual misconduct, political interference, and financial mismanagement by Catholic bishops and priests – religious who were supposed to be beyond reproach.

These stories included diverted calamity funds and the multi-million peso donations to Radyo Veritas that were unaccounted for.

President Rodrigo Duterte even cited Rufo's book in his tirades against the Catholic clergy, spurred by their criticism of his war on drugs.

When Rufo wrote the book, he said it was driven by the desire to push for more transparency and reforms that the Catholic faithful deserve. It was about lifting "the veil of secrecy" that had wrapped the centuries-old institution. In the dedication of his ground-breaking book, he wrote: "For those who remain steadfast in their faith yet ache for reforms within the Holy Mother Church.”

This is what we try to live by when we practice our journalism. Our obligation first and foremost is to the truth. When we write and report about abuses and corruption, it is with the end in view of helping bring about meaningful change, and trying to correct what is wrong.

Journalism is about asking critical questions and shining the light on issues that matter the most. Through stories, we seek to help fix flaws in institutions, including Churches, that impact on the lives of many. 

It is an obligation journalists have, a commitment that stands steady – even in the face of relentless criticism and attack.

The ‘secretive’ INC

This commitment continues to guide Rappler today as much as it had during our coverage of the controversies surrounding the Iglesia ni Cristo in 2015. (READ: Revolt in the Iglesia ni Cristo)

INC has always been such a secretive Church. At the same time, it has yielded so much political influence mostly because of its bloc voting during elections. It is a system whereby high officials dictate on followers the names to write on ballots.

INC has always carried an air of exclusivity and normalcy in its over a century of existence – until July 2015 when Felix Nathaniel "Angel" and his mother Cristina "Tenny" Villanueva-Manalo appeared in a YouTube video, appealing for help and saying their lives were in danger.

Issues slowly crept out of 36 Tandang Sora, family home of former executive director Eraño Manalo. We reported on allegations of corruption and the extravagant lifestyles of some INC leaders, including the existence of a multi-million-dollar Airbus used by the Church ministers. It was never the same for the INC since then.

But the Church has proven resilient. It attempted a show of force on EDSA, telling the previous Aquino government it had the power to mobilize support. (READ: INSIDE STORY: The end of the Iglesia ni Cristo protest)

We weren't spared. We were attacked relentlessly and accused of being biased. We were targets of calls for a boycott. But we persisted.

We will not go away

Rappler is probably one of the few media organizations that still closely follow INC issues.

We were there when expelled church worker Lowell Menorca II first surfaced, when he was arrested, and when he eventually fled the country. We broke the story when he and another expelled INC member started the process of filing refugee applications in Canada. (READ: The long road to safety for ex-INC refugee claimants)

Rappler was there when the family of Angel Manalo claimed they were being harassed, when they refused to let go of their 36 Tandang Sora home even after a long legal battle, when their house was eventually demolished, and when Angel was arrested.

In our coverage, we faced masked men who threatened our reporters if they did not go away. We had to remind ourselves it was a religious Church we were covering. 

Access to Church officials was hindered and obtaining important documents to aid our stories became harder. But ethics and standards of journalism continue to guide our investigations and work.

Even if we face more challenges ahead, we will not stop covering the Catholic Church, Iglesia ni Cristo, and other religious sectors in the Philippines. Their followers, after all, deserve to know the truth about them. – Jodesz Gavilan and Sofia Tomacruz/Rappler.com

Last October 10, President Rodrigo Duterte directed the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to be the "sole agency" in charge of the war against drugs.

With PDEA at the helm, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and its Oplan Tokhang, the bloody and violent campaign that sought to curtail drug abuse, was in effect, sidelined.

The question, however remains: Are minors now safe after Mr Duterte transferred the drug operations from the PNP to PDEA?

In my article "Children in Duterte’s bloody war on drugs," I narrated stories from families with children whose rights were intentionally violated by state agents – arbitrary arrests, sexual abuse, and death.

In the first year of Mr Duterte’s presidency, the PNP already reported more than 3,800 deaths in relation to its anti-drug operations. Human rights groups and organizations, however, claim that the number already reached around 13,000 deaths. This excludes the number of children who were caught in drug operations – some intentionally killed, others “collateral damage”, as Mr Duterte has proclaimed.

Yet the horrors continue. The “nanlaban” (those who allegedly fought back against authorities) narrative has been scrapped from police reports involving minors killed from October onwards. In my interview with a local-based child rights protection advocacy group, the a dark shadow still looms over urban communities.

Kian delos Santos, a minor killed in the drug war, was not the last. The testimonies of families, non-governmental organizations, and advocacy groups, indicate that a pattern continues. The deaths of minors, allegedly killed by police officers, frequently take place between the hours of 10 pm and 3 am. Police reports now consistently cite “gang war” or “love triangle” – all of a sudden, “nanlaban” is no longer part of the storyline.

In one Metro Manila city, another pattern prevails. In operations where police officers kill alleged suspects in their drug operations, minors and children present at the crime scene – and who are potential witnesses – are brought to detention centers, placed behind bars, and are accused of illegal possession of drugs. Others are threatened.

In my interview with Rowena Delgado, executive director of the Children’s Legal Rights and Development Center, Inc (CLRDC), the number of child drug-related deaths already reached 60 as of October of this year.

“As we celebrate the National Children’s Month this November, it is important that this government should uphold the protection of children. In these cases, wherein state authorities are the perpetrators, we must seek accountability. The state should protect children and minors to enhance their growth and development, not butchered,” she said.

The Duterte administration should consider strong socio-economic interventions with respect to vulnerable families and marginalized children. The government must consider institutionalizing harm-reduction policies in communities to help minors and their families – policies based on science and research, not violence. – Rappler.com

Reuben James Barrete is a development worker focusing on human rights and social protection. He is finishing his master’s degree in International Studies at the University of the Philippines.

Top photo: A mother wearing a Duterte wristband, accompanies her minor son at a police station after being temporarily detained for violating curfew in this picture taken on June 8, 2016. File photo by Noel Celis/AFP

“We are a tech company, not a media company.” Ito ang paulit-ulit na sinasabi ni Mark Zuckerberg, CEO ng Facebook. 

Sa nakalipas na 10 taon, nabaligtad ang mundo ng pagbabalita. Hindi na natin nakukuha ang balita sa diyaryo sa umaga o sa TV sa gabi. Ngayon, ilang pindot lang sa cellphone, nasa kamay na natin ang balita sa pamamagitan ng social media. At 'di raw media company ang Facebook?

47 milyong tao sa Pilipinas ang aktibo sa Facebook.

Popularity o kasikatan ang diyos ng algorithms ng Facebook. Nakatutok ang mga data scientist nito sa pagpapababad sa user para hindi na ito umalis at lumipat sa ibang site. 

Dahil nga simula pa lang ay ayaw na ni Zuckerberg akuin ang papel ng gatekeeper ng balita, walang mekanismo ang Facebook para matahip ang bigas mula sa ipa – ang genuine laban sa fake; ang may kredibilidad laban sa patakbuhin; ang lantarang nanloloko laban sa nagsisikap magsalaysay ng totoo.

Hindi naka-optimize ang Facebook para sa katotohanan at pag-aaral. Sinusukat nito ang tagumpay sa clicks, likes, at comments, 'di bale na kung basura ang talakayan.

Ang naging casualty ay ang pag-unawa ng publiko sa pulitika at current affairs.

Umiikot lamang ang mga balita at opinyon sa mistulang kuweba ng mga magkakapareho ng kuro-kuro at kulay sa pulitika. Halimbawa, nakikita lamang ng mga suporter ni President Rodrigo Duterte and mga batikos sa kanya, dahil ito ang pinag-iinitan ng mga pinuno ng DDS. Ito lang ang nase-share at umaani ng komentaryo. Ang mga balitang tumatalakay sa magandang aspekto ng gobyerno ay nababaon at 'di tumatagos sa kanilang hinagap.

Dahil na rin sa napakalawak na reach ng Facebook at ang pagdiriin nito sa social relations, malaki ang kargo de konsensiya ng dambuhalang platform na ngayon ay lumalangoy sa pera mula sa lumolobong kita na hatid ng 2.006 bilyon na users.

Lumalim ang hidwaan ng lipunang Pilipino na unang tinamaan ng fake news at propaganda machine. Lalong bumabaw ang talakayan. Naging normal ang bastusan at babuyan. Naging pangkaraniwan ang mapagbantaan na gagahasain at papatayin. Keri lang sa maraming makabasa ng pangungutya sa itsura, kulay ng balat, at kasarian.

Ngayon, lumalabas na ang kuwento kung paano ginamit ng mga otokratikong pinuno ang social media upang magpalaganap ng propaganda at manipulahin ang mga tao para sumakay sa inimbentong realidad. 

Saan pumalpak ang Facebook? Isa-isahin natin.

1. Bukas sa manipulasyon. Inamin ng Facebook at Twitter na ginamit ang kanilang platforms upang impluwensyahan ang eleksyon sa Estados Unidos. Halimbawa, lumilitaw na galing sa Russia ang perang itinustos upang bumili ng online ads na nagli-link kay Hillary Clinton kay Satanas. Nasa 126 milyon ang tantsang naabot ng content mula sa Russian sources.

2. Nagpapakalat ng disinpormasyon. Sino ang nagpapasya kung sino ang makakikita ng mga posts ng 1.083 bilyong daily active users sa buong mundo? AI ang pangunahing nagko-compute ng kung aling post ang dapat ilagay sa feed ng mga tao batay sa popularidad.

Ang kalokohan dito, hindi ito marunong kumilatis ng peke, kasinungalinan, at walang kredibilidad. Di alam ng algorithms ang kaibahan ng fact sa fiction o kathang-isip. 

Sa madaling salita, ginawang viral ng Artificial Intelligence ang kamangmangan.

3. Pagbubulag-bulagan. Ayon sa mga opisyal ng Facebook, isa itong “neutral conduit” na walang kinakampihan. Ilang taon ding itinanggi ni Zuckerberg ang role ng Facebook sa pagkakalat ng maling impormasyon. Hindi raw sila mamamahayag. Dahil sa paniniwalang ito, naghugas-kamay ang Facebook sa fiasco nito sa US elections at pagpapalakas ng poder ng mga diktador sa buong mundo.

4. Nagpalala ng pagkahati-hati sa lipunan. Kamakailan nag-sorry si Ginoong Zuckerberg sa paglikha ng “divisions” sa social media platform. Sa ngayon, ang tangi lamang ipinangako ng kumpanya ay maging transparent sa advertisements.

Bago pa lamang ang eleksyon sa US, ibinahagi na ng Rappler ang pag-aaral nito kung paano ginamit ang 26 na pekeng accounts upang impluwensyahan ang 3 milyong accounts  sa Facebook. Bilang isang social experiment, nakita sa Pilipinas kung paano nagamit ang social media platforms upang i-polarize ang bayan.

5. Paglipana ng fake news. Tinatantsang nasa 81 milyon ang pekeng profiles sa Facebook. Naluklok tuloy sa altar ng katotohanan ang kasinungalingan. Kapag may nag-viral na kasinungalingan, napakahirap, halos imposible, na itong mabura.

Ayon sa mga pag-aaral, walang epek ang pangontra ng Facebook sa fake news na tagging at “More Info” buttion. 

Inutil ang Facebook na walisin ang basura sa sarili nitong site. Kadalasan pa nga, ang nate-take down ay ang mga matapang na bumabatikos sa pamahalaan dahil sabay-sabay silang inireklamo ng propaganda machinery. 

Sabi ni Maria Ressa, executive editor ng Rappler, nang tumanggap siya ng Democracy Award para sa Rappler: “Sa mga tech companies, umaapila ako sa inyo, kailangan ng inyong aksyon – gawing transparent at accountable ang inyong mga platforms. Nagtayo kayo ng siyudad; ngayon, lagyan 'nyo naman ng traffic light at batas. Tigilan na ang kawalan ng pananagutan o impunity.”

Dagdag pa niya, "Sa bandang huli, ang kalayaang magpahayag ay ginagamit upang busalan ang malayang pamamahayag." 

Panahon na upang panagutan ng Facebook sampu ng millennial nitong pamunuan ang pag-agnas ng demokrasya sa buong planeta. Bilang isang network ng “social relationships,” tungkulin nitong magtaguyod ng magalang at matalinong lipunan.

Dapat na nitong harapin ang higanteng responsibilidad na dulot ng higante nitong kapangyarihan. – Rappler.com

I am walking down Haight Street in San Francisco, the birth place of the hippie movement. And I am trying to figure out what the word “hippie” means.

Hippie is what I would have called myself as a 12-year-old in 1969 in Manila. But that is not how Joan Didion describes in her now classic essay, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, the time she spent in the Haight Ashbury district in 1967.  Her description of the scene was dark:

The center was not holding. It was a country of bankruptcy notices and public-auction announcements and commonplace reports of casual killings and misplaced children and abandoned homes and vandals who misplaced even the four-letter words they scrawled. It was a country in which families routinely disappeared, trailing bad checks and repossession papers. Adolescents drifted from city to torn city, sloughing off both the past and the future as snakes shed their skins, children who were never taught and would never now learn the games that had held the society together. People were missing. Children were missing. Parents were missing. Those left behind filed desultory missing persons reports, then moved on themselves. It was not a country in open revolution. It was not a country under enemy siege. It was the United States of America in the cold late spring of 1967, and the market was steady and the G.N.P. high and a great many articulate people seemed to have a sense of high social purpose and it might have been a spring of brave hopes and national promise, but it was not, and more and more people had the uneasy apprehension that it was not. All that seemed clear was that at some point we had aborted ourselves and butchered the job, and because nothing else seemed so relevant I decided to go to San Francisco. San Francisco was where the social hemorrhaging was showing up. San Francisco was where the missing children were gathering and calling themselves "hippies".

Didion’s essay goes on to describe a scene of children and adolescents tuned out of reality on acid and other drugs. They couldn’t themselves explain what it was they were doing. Reasons, ideas, and plans floated around until the next drug trip. Traditional figures of authority were derided and rejected. There emerged among the hippies a few leaders whose names Didion heard of but couldn’t meet. She couldn’t quite figure out either why some names seemed to stand out.

Pinay hippie

Certainly this is not the hippie I was as a pre-adolescent in the former US colony called the Philippines. I doubt whether any of the people Didion met would even know the country existed. And yet as I walk along Haight street, a 60-year-old in the fall of 2017, I am bop-bop-bopping to the songs that pour out LOUD (!) from the stores. I am pointing out murals of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. I am worshipping at the park where the musicians of my youth performed during the “Summer of Love”.

The shop owners seem more in tune here. Kinder, more authentic. (What do I know, I am a gullible tourist from a country where “service” means “lower status”.) But there are resin pendants that will purify energies at the earth store and I buy several with the iconic peace signs as pasalubongs. It looks like these are made in China and plastic, rather than hand made and resin. But hey, I don’t want to give anyone a bad trip, man. Least of all myself.

I sit in front of the organic market in the sunshine and have the ultimate experience: a man walks by completely naked except for a penis sheath. I am a hippie and not a Filipina. I look straight at his balls and wonder why they aren’t shriveled in the cold.

I tell my youngest son, “I used to be a hippie.” He gets only the part about the music of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell. He is amused by my insistence that it takes an artistic eye to make a beautiful tie-dyed shirt. But he senses too my lack of authenticity. “You were a hippie until you got real old,” he said. And that seemed funny too because Didion notes that as a 33-year-old in 1967 she was considered old.

From Kerouac to Marx

And I did get old indeed. My hippie ways would quickly end. By 14, I was a radicalized high school student. Karl Marx had replaced Jack Kerouac as my reading material. Political power now grew out of the barrel of a gun and not from flowers. The Summer of Love became the First Quarter Storm. In 1972, when I was 15 years old, all innocence ended for me when Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law and started imprisoning my neighbors and the parents of my friends. Marcos would go on to imprison and kill kids as young as those hippies too.

For a long time I looked at my hippie days as a clear sign of my colonial and bourgeois mentality. Something to be ashamed of. Something to be rooted out and confessed in endless rounds of criticism and self-criticism. Something to be repudiated on the way to being a cadre and a proletariat.
But then, I grew even older and had kids. Kids who would later dust off my original Jimi Hendrix albums with admiration at the 12-year-old me that had bought these.

These days millennials talk to me abut Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg and seem surprised that I know of these guys. I meet them in rallies against the revival of the Marcoses. Some of them I talk to in the halls of the college where I teach. And they ask me of yet other cultural products of the colonial power: Gloria Steinem and Shulamith Firestone; Harvey Milk and the pride marches.

“Don’t forget to go to Castro street,” my young colleague reminded me the day before I left for San Francisco. I went there from Haight Ashbury and made sure I took pictures of the rainbow street signs. I am interested in all those other greats they have enshrined on the sidewalks with markers. I do special homage to Gertrude Stein whose work I have liked. “Cool,” say the millennials of my pictures. “Groovy," I answer.

Just an ordinary subaltern

These days I wonder at how some of our intellectuals are trapped in the boxes of approved thinking. In a previous trip I met with Philippine Studies scholars in Berkeley who nuanced terms like “colonial” or “imperialism” with more hip terms like “subaltern” and the “empire”.

Many asked me about the liberation army back home as if somehow my association with it guaranteed my authenticity as a social activist. And what I wanted to tell them was that maybe we should stop talking about my authentic Third World, woman-of-color status because it has become an identity I do not recognize. Even if these are terms my generation also invented in the struggle for national liberation and identity.

Because I think I made a mistake in forgetting I was once a hippie, a feminist influenced by white liberalism, a budding gender scholar who would feel like she was coming home when she finally hit Castro street in the fall of 2017.

You see, the hippie that I was, was a Third World hippie. The liberal feminist I started out as was never a white one. And if the actors from Castro had not influenced me earlier, I would still be a bigoted anti-imperialist today. If I wasn’t the groupie of Judy Collins and Bob Dylan I would not be able to recognize the social critique of the childhood ditty “Leron, Leron, Sinta.”

There is a common thread in rebellion and the urge to social transformation wherever else it may start in the world. Most of us are born into some sort of privilege (of class, race, caste, sexual orientation, sex, and so on). It is foolhardy to think we can cast off these parts of our being and thereby find some form of revolutionary authenticity.

In his book, “Under Three Flags: Anarchism and the Anti-Colonial Imagination”, Benedict Anderson documents the flow of exchanges between the anarchists of Europe and the revolutionaries of the Spanish colonies, including the illustrados like Jose Rizal. My personal history validates the idea that the voice of the subaltern is not necessarily coopted by access to the idioms of the empire. That, to use another current term, would mistake the nature of agency completely.

And so, this woman of color, who lives in the former colony, is unashamed when she goes bop-bop-bopping in Haight Ashbury.

It is still, all so groovy. – Rappler.com

Sylvia Estrada Claudio is a Professor of Women and Development Studies at the College of Social Work and Community Development. She is in San Francisco for a week to attend the wedding of her eldest son.