there seems to be the perception from non-Filipinos that the Philippines is like a place dominated by thugs and gang lords, where you could just silenced anyone if he/she is voicing against a certain person. of course, they based it on the few instances of killings. sure, there are at least 300 hundred activists being killed allegedly by the military. i wont deny that fact and to me that is tragic. BUT please don't forget that there are 90M Filipinos in our country, more than half are adults and youths and, believe me, almost all 45M had voiced out against government policies and officials including our president in one way or another. if you say that killing against those dissenting is prevalent, wouldn't you think that statistics will be higher than just 300?how come i don't know anyone personally who has been killed for that matter? if it is prevalent, you would think that every family had suffered. c'mon, my bestfriend is an activist but she is still alive. her friends are also activists and in fact are members in the underground movement and yes, they are still alive up to this day.
perhaps you will better understand the concept of voicing out in the phils. here let me explain further: those activists that had been killed are working with farmers'rights against landed employers or working with the urban poor. since the communists also penetrated these sectors of philippine society, the military almost always branded these activists as "communists" thereby seen as threat to national security. of course, some activists are not communists and they are caught in the situation. this is where the tragedy lies.
now, if you just attend to rallies against government policies or government official, you will not be killed i assure you. if you are a college student who voiced out against tuition fee increases, you will not be killed. if the president of the land is addressing your graduation rites and you suddenly heckled her in the middle of her speech (this happened 2 years ago), you will be reprimanded sure but not killed. in fact., this girl is still alive today and is not imprisoned.
the lone fact that we have the nerve to say anything against our government while still in the Philippines is a sure proof that we are not threatened in any way.
there seems to be the perception from non-Filipinos that the Philippines is like a place dominated by thugs and gang lords, where you could just silenced anyone if he/she is voicing against a certain person. of course, they based it on the few instances of killings. sure, there are at least 300 hundred activists being killed allegedly by the military. i wont deny that fact and to me that is tragic. BUT please don't forget that there are 90M Filipinos in our country, more than half are adults and youths and, believe me, almost all 45M had voiced out against government policies and officials including our president in one way or another. if you say that killing against those dissenting is prevalent, wouldn't you think that statistics will be higher than just 300?how come i don't know anyone personally who has been killed for that matter? if it is prevalent, you would think that every family had suffered. c'mon, my bestfriend is an activist but she is still alive. her friends are also activists and in fact are members in the underground movement and yes, they are still alive up to this day.
perhaps you will better understand the concept of voicing out in the phils. here let me explain further: those activists that had been killed are working with farmers'rights against landed employers or working with the urban poor. since the communists also penetrated these sectors of philippine society, the military almost always branded these activists as "communists" thereby seen as threat to national security. of course, some activists are not communists and they are caught in the situation. this is where the tragedy lies.
now, if you just attend to rallies against government policies or government official, you will not be killed i assure you. if you are a college student who voiced out against tuition fee increases, you will not be killed. if the president of the land is addressing your graduation rites and you suddenly heckled her in the middle of her speech (this happened 2 years ago), you will be reprimanded sure but not killed. in fact., this girl is still alive today and is not imprisoned.
the lone fact that we have the nerve to say anything against our government while still in the Philippines is a sure proof that we are not threatened in any way.
mo lang!