I was deeply shaken by the recent torture and death of Randall “Randy” Echanis, chair of Anakpawis and tireless advocate for the poor and landless. When the first reports emerged, I thought it was strange that his killing departed from the usual modus operandi of hired assassins, with which we…
Comments closedTag: Extra Judicial Killings
Lawmakers defending the anti-terrorism bill have reacted to what they perceive to be exaggerated fears among the bill’s critics. The fears could be exaggerated, but they make a lot of sense coming from a traumatized people. I do not refer to the trauma of martial law to which a number…
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The increasing divisiveness of our politics has been thrown into sharp relief this election season. Aside from the constant mudslinging of politicians, it seems so difficult now for people of different political stripes to have real, meaningful conversations with each other, whether in public or private. This is part of…
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Watch out! The train is coming!” yelled the crowd of urban poor clustered around the railroad tracks by the España station. It was Holy Week and seven cross-bearers were kneeling on the tracks to protest government policies threatening their already precarious existence. They scrambled to get out of the train’s…
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After that terrible week in August in which the police killed 81 drug suspects, a Roman Catholic friend announced she was about to “excommunicate” herself from her parish. Bishop Honesto Ongtioco had told parishes in his diocese of Cubao to toll their bells each night in memory of those killed…
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LORD HEAL OUR LAND (cf. 2 Chronicles 7:14) Our brothers and sisters in Christ: Kian, Carl, Reynaldo…they were young boys, enjoying life, loving sons of parents who doted on them. Now an entire nation knows them by name because their lives have been snuffed out so cruelly, their dreams and…
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24 August 2017 TO THE WHOLE PROVINCE Coming Together in the Power of the Spirit Statement of the Philippine Province Jesuits on Fighting the Evil of Illegal Drugs It is with deep concern for the welfare of our nation that the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus joins His…
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About a year ago, on May 9, 2016, the Filipino people–or at least, 16 million of them, about 39 percent of the electorate–entrusted our nation to a strange shepherd. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte came to power promising to protect the innocent by spilling the blood of the guilty: criminals, especially…
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In the last 10 months, over 9,000 Filipinos, mostly poor, have perished in circumstances believed to be associated with the government’s campaign against illegal drugs. More than a quarter of the killings have been carried out by police against an unusual number of drug suspects reported to have resisted apprehension.…
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What if all we know about drugs is wrong?
Have you ever had your deep-seated assumptions challenged? Realized that something you believed to be true all your life was somehow mistaken? If you’ve ever experienced that, you’ll know it may come with emotions like denial, guilt, or anger as we come to terms with the loss of something we…