Tag: public health emergency

governance, public health

Notes on: What next? #Covid19 #TerrorLaw #Protest

July 19, 2020 by
N

We all already agree that the Duterte government’s handling of this public health crisis is probably one of the worst in the world—and certainly the worst in Southeast Asia—as both the facts and numbers reveal.

But this government is much much worse. It has used this pandemic and to declare de facto martial law. The policies on the Bayanihan We Heal As One Act are the tip of the iceberg; what is worse than the words that are there is how it is implemented on the ground, where military might and police power are king. We of course had this coming: we watched the past four years as Duterte appointed military men into the Cabinet, one after the other; we watched as he emboldened the police by telling them to kill, and condoning their abuses; we watched as he jailed Leila de Lima, unseated CJ Sereno, jailed activists on trumped-up charges; we watched as the body count grew.

This pandemic was all Duterte’s government needed to get all its other unjust, extrajudicial policies to happen. Cancel the ABS-CBN franchise based on the President’s personal gripe? Check. Pass the anti-terror law that will legalize the tagging of activism as terrorism among the violation of our rights? Check. Put Charter Change back on the table? Check. Allow the Aerotropolis airport in Bulacan to push through despite displacing fisherfolk and it environmental repercussions? Implement the jeepney phaseout that will disenfranchise thousands of jeepney drivers who are being made to go into debt for a modern vehicle in this time of crisis? Check. Disallow protests, and arrest without warrants any group, no matter how small, that dares do a protest? Check.

The latter is of course key: the past five months, we have seen how incompetent and violent, how shameless and thoughtless this government is. At any other time we would be out on the streets, raising a fist. In the time of pandemic, we are disallowed from doing so, and with a Terror Law now in place, acts of resistance like that can easily be construed as acts of terrorism. The fear is valid, but so is the anger.

Especially since it get worse. Duterte’s propaganda machinery is so head of us, with it’s game so strong, that it has been able to control the narrative of this pandemic and the government’s contingent abuses.

Click here for the rest of it.

disinformation and propaganda, social / media

How Duterte’s addresses to nation are sneaky political communications strategy

April 24, 2020 by
H

by Jayson Gaspar Maulit

Duterte appears on TV late at night <today at 8:00AM — ed.>, recently with Cabinet members providing insights and praising him. These are all taped-as-live, edited by people from RTVM/PCOO. Nakakairita, but what Malacañang does is a well-crafted and executed communications plan.

The national situation is important to the Palace, kasi for the first time in almost 4 years, tinamaan lahat ng krisis. EJKs, the Rice Tariffication Law, and puppeteering in the government didn’t concern the rich. China’s claiming of our islands seemed very far to the urban poor, and people who didn’t live in coastal areas. Misogyny? Racism? Bigotry? At least totoong tao si Digong, hindi kagaya ni Mar Roxas at ng mga Dilawan.

But the COVID-19 crisis? Tinamaan ang mga mahihirap, tinamaan ang mga estudyante, tinamaan ang middle class, at tinamaan ang mga oligarchs ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

So. Duterte addressing the nation. The timeslot is deliberate—meant to play with the media, avoid (close to) real-time criticisms from experts, and extend news cycles for maximum retention. The message? It’s not for us angry and frustrated citizens looking for answers, no. The addresses are loyalty checks and call for solidarity to the DDS, asking them to, again, band together.

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governance, public health

Grounding Government: Why Criticize Now During COVID-19?

March 18, 2020 by
G

I believe in government. Governments sprouted side-by-side with civilization to create order, as did belief, religion, and the study of natural sciences. The first “government officials” were those who displayed qualities of being ahead, for example, hunters of extraordinary prowess, priests, shamans, or those supposedly ordained by a god—pharaohs, emperors, prophets, etc. Ultimately, governments arose out of our need to make sense of life: social life had to lead somewhere, hopefully to a better end, or else, what’s the point of living with one another?

Government—coming in various forms—is human life’s answer to that. It is essentially an idea that a group of people, a “nationality” (an idea that sprouted much later), agrees upon and pools their time and resources (i.e. taxes) into so that, as a big(ger) group, they are able to surmise solutions to problems they could not solve as mere individuals. Simply put, big problems require big solutions.

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public health

Duterte’s iron fist no match for Covid-19

March 15, 2020 by
D

It’s 44 days after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the country and day one of the Duterte administration’s community quarantine-cum-lockdown of Metro Manila. There is much more anxiety, fear and panic than there should be.

The coronavirus threat is real and it’s critical for the government to respond quickly and decisively. Everyone also has a responsibility to support every measure to stop the spread of the virus.

But what if the government’s response is muddled and, worse, ill-conceived? Do we, as the president said, “just follow” because it’s for our own good? Follow, and keep silent?

There are fortunately more than enough Filipinos who are neither blindly adoring of Pres. Duterte nor crave subjugation. Speaking up from outside government and especially within it, they are the best chance to get the Duterte administration to reconsider its militarist approach to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

And there should be no doubt that the response is certainly militarist.

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