read along, and if you wouldn't like what you've read, get a gun, and PULL THE TRIGGER...
people tend to pre-judge me as the typical snob. well, let me tell you this: it's partly true. i'm like that to people whose minds are inflicted with nothing but stupidity. and also to those who think that i'm really a snob.
BUT, i'm really friendly and approachable. there are just times when i tend to succumb to my own world and be the ever-pessimistic me. but it happens rarely. ^_^
i rant a lot when i'm stress-pissed. to the OCs out there, 'stress-pissed' doesn't exist. i just used it just for the heck of it. hehe..
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this post is my column in Lasalleño volume 15 issue 1, the official magazine of The HERALDO FILIPINO, official student publication of De La Salle University-Dasmariñas.
Twenty-three.
A figure brought about by greed.
Of it, 17 became barricades of our precious land.
People have read and heard of journalists, human rights activists, and political leaders being killed to hide the twisted reality.
But of these extrajudicial killings, 23 cases caught my attention.
Under the Arroyo administration alone, 23 environmental activists have died, 17 of them opposed mining operations in their respective areas.
The latest victim was Armin Marin, a councilor in
The murder of Marin happened on October 3, as he led his fellow anti-mining advocates in a picket in Sitio Olango in Barangay España,
It was, however, a brutal death. Witnesses say that the bullet went through Marin’s mouth and exited through the back.
The Sibuyan Island Sentinels League for Environment says that the contracts of the companies were all signed by Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes. The contract in Sibuyan includes cutting of 69,709 trees for mining operations and explorations.
Now, who can blame Marin and his neighbors for standing against armed men? Who can blame them for wanting to protect their environment?
* * *
Just because he loved his land, I thought after reading the news from the internet.
Yes, Marin is the 23rd environmentalist whose blood is now one with the land he fought hard for.
And nearly 300 others have been killed since 2004 while defending their rights as Filipinos—as people.
The growing number of deaths is evidence that the government pays little attention to extrajudicial killings. It appears that the primary concern is improving the economy; setting aside the gifts that Mother Nature has given our land.
If President Arroyo is sincere in helping this country, she should start by educating the Filipinos about our natural resources. Only by loving our land would we learn to respect it, to care for it, and to be ready to die for it.
Twenty-three individuals stood their ground and they now rest in the land they stood up for.
Bullets may have caused their deaths. But it was greed that stopped their journeys. It was treachery that stole their souls.
They are alive, however, in the hearts of those who shall pursue their fights.
“…Here he lies where he long’d to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.”
- Requiem, Robert Loius Stevenson
* * *
When President Arroyo condemned political killings during her State of the Nation Address, she should have had concrete measures. She had the time to praise her officials; she should have spent some time in presenting what actions she plans to do to abate extrajudicial killings. After all, this issue lies entirely on the state.
I have signed an online petition in pinoyhr.net to stop extrajudicial killings in the
