Last September 17, students and progressive groups in UP Diliman held an Anti-War Anti-Cha-Cha Festival in protest against the war in Mindanao, Charter Change, and continued gas hikes.

The whole-day activity was kick-started by anti-war games at the lobby of Palma Hall as a form of protest against the continuing deployment of military and US troops in Mindanao. The main game was “Dodgeball Against GMA” where two-teams–one twenty-strong team composed of students in 70’s attire and another in GMA masks–went head to head for the dodgeball championship. The tournament sought to symbolize the triumph of pro-people policies against the current ones being implemented by President Arroyo.

Part of the festival was a forum in the afternoon by leading UP faculty at the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Audio-Visual Room. That was a forum regarding the prospects of the continuing war in light of the current peace negotiations.

Tags: charter change, Gloria Arroyo, Mindanao, Palma Hall, STAND UP, war

For Constitutional Law 1 class, our professor made us replay in our own way the Supreme Court proceedings in Lambino vs. COMELEC. My blockmates and I took on different roles as Supreme Court Justices, petitioners and respondents. I was on the side of the Sigaw ng Bayan / People’s Initiative petitioners as Erico Aumentado. Some of us even took on the role of the Solicitor General and amicus curiae Joaquin Bernas.

A day before the moot court, we reserved the court room to get a feel of the proceedings the next day. The next day, we even wore robes in our “role-playing”.

It was pretty interesting being on the side of the petitioners defending the now-botched people’s initiative charter change petition of Sigaw ng Bayan, which was once one of the most heated socio-political issue in the country back in 2005, if I’m not mistaken. I was against it back then. Going through the case made me rethink the issue. I still feel largely against it, however, but only in as much as it was obviously a political maneuver during those days. In principle, I think charter change (though, we have to qualify what sort of change) and people’s initiative is a good idea.

Yesterday, we replayed the justices’ deliberations using our own arguments, and we invited Atty. Raul Lambino, himself, to witness it and talk about the petition. He’s one of our blockmate’s father, actually.

Tags: charter change, law blockmates, moot court, UP Law

War is show business, that’s why we’re here.
- Conrad Brean (Wag the Dog, 1997)

Lantad na lantad ang makasariling interes ng rehimen ni Gloria Arroyo at ng U.S. sa pagpasok sa Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) ng Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) at Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Mula sa mga abo ng pagkabigo ng kaniyang pakanang People’s Initiative for Charter Change noong 2006, muling gumawa ng oportunidad ang kaniyang rehimen upang pasayawin ang mamamayan sa kaniyang Cha-Cha sa pamamagitan ng pagkasangkapan sa mahigit apat na dekadang armadong tunggalian sa Mindanao para sa kanilang karapatan sa sariling pagpapasya o right to self-determination.

Ang matagal nang pakikibaka ng mamamayang Moro para sa kanilang mga pampulitika at pang-ekonomiyang kahilingan ay malayong maisakatuparan sa ilalim ng pamumuno ni GMA. Imbes na sinserong harapin ang ugat ng kahirapan at pag-aaklas ng mga kababayang Moro na primaryang nagmumula sa pagsasamantala ng malalaking panginoong may-lupa at korporasyong multinasyunal sa kanilang mga ancestral lands, ginamit pa itong pagkakataon para itambol at isulong ang naantalang anti-mamamayang Cha-Cha na sa huli ay lalo lamang magtitiyak ng interes ng iilan sa ‘Bangsamoro homeland’. Tunay na walang sinseridad ang rehimeng ito sa pangmatagalang kapayapaan sa Mindanao at nagawa pang isangkalan ang buhay at kapakanan ng mga sundalo’t sibilyan para isulong ang mga nasabing interes at upang magbunsod pa ng giyera na nakikitang pagkakataon upang gawing lehitimo ang mga base militar sa Mindanao at ang paggamit ng emergency powers dahil sa giyerang ang rehimen niya mismo ang may pakana.

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Tags: charter change, Gloria Arroyo, Mindanao, war