Jules Dayrit 2008-67937

March 14, 2013 PI 100: Philippine Revolution Reaction Paper

Well this was a fresh sight. The articles in the website show news that Ive never seen before. Mostly about the atrocities the government throws at the people, the news articles here arent anything you would find on the more wee-known forms of media. In fact, the media tend to avoid reporting these events, maybe due to a secret agreement with the state or by outright fear of what would happen should they release the stories to the public. At this point, I have to commend the writers of this website for being brave enough to face the threat of punishment for bad mouthing the government (and to by association, the armed forces and police, which are featured heavily in the articles.) I cant say the government deserves all the condemnations it gets, but it isnt quite better to say it doesnt. The choices it makes reflect how weak the people on top are. Take the issue in Sabah for example, where Aquino essentially sided with Malaysia against the kin of the Sultan of Sulu. The writers look at this act with disgust, I in a way, I do too, because it basically says that the president has given up on laying claim on land that is rightfully the Sultans (and by extension ours.) The article even states that occupying that portion of Borneo are around 800,000 Filipinos being subject to harsh environments and brutalities due to being illegal immigrants. And while the Sultans actions can be translated as merely an attempt to liberate his kinsmen, Malaysia took the bold counteraction to attack the Sultans forces. The mass killings of Filipinos by Malay hands have gone unnoticed by the world at large as both governments have chosen to suppress the new of the encounters. But what is actually sad about this is that we are destined to be like this forever; merely the pawns of higher, more powerful regimes, who by their own will assign our sovereignty in accordance to theirs. And as long as we remain this, there really is nothing we can do but squeal.