Second of two parts Gen Z Filipinos are not as active in street protests against corruption in public works projects as they are online. They spent their earlier years indoors due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which partly explains the unwillingness of most of them to leave home and participate in current outdoor protests. They feel...
Tag: activism
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Gen Z and activism: Fighting against corruption
First of two parts The call to jail the crooks in the flood-control corruption scandal thundered above all others in a setting intended to highlight athletic excellence and school pride, not political defiance: “Ikulong na ’yan, mga kurakot!” It was halftime during the UAAP (University Athletic Association of the Philippines) basketball match between the University...
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After five years, imprisoned student activist Amanda Echanis acquitted and freed
BAGUIO CITY–A Tuguegarao City court has acquitted student activist Amanda Socorro Echanis of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, citing major flaws in the police search that led to her arrest and five-year detention. In a ruling dated Dec. 27, 2025, and promulgated last Jan. 14, Regional Trial Court Branch 10 Judge Racquel Reyes-Aglaua also said...
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Rights groups denounce arrest of Cordillera labor leader
BAGUIO CITY—Police arrested labor leader and folk musician Michael “Mike” Cabangon at his home in Baguio City on Dec. 27 on a charge of terrorism financing, according to the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA). Cabangon, spokesperson of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Cordillera and an advocate for workers’ and transport rights, was served a warrant...
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Dante C. Simbulan, 1930-2024: From military officer to scholar-activist
Long before Dante C. Simbulan’s path-breaking study on the Philippine elite, “The Modern Principalia: The Historical Evolution of the Philippine Ruling Oligarchy,” was published by the University of the Philippines Press in 2005, it had become “the much-quoted thesis on the socioeconomic elite in the Philippines,” according to Mark Turner, writing on the History of...
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Art imitates life in Cinemalaya 2025’s hard-hitting indies
By putting a premium on thematic pertinence over pomp, formula and pageantry, the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival has continually asserted its place as the country’s preeminent indie showcase since 2005. It explores stories that are deemed too risky for mainstream audiences and espouses perspectives that champion the weak, oppressed and marginalized. These indies operate...
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‘First Day Rage’ stirs UP campuses
Learning comes with militancy at the University of the Philippines (UP) right from the start of academic classes at UP Diliman and other campuses. In what was dubbed “First Day Rage,” students, faculty members, workers, community residents and other sectors assembled on Jan. 21, the first day of classes for the second semester of academic...
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Scholars should be activists, and vice versa
“All scholars should be activists, and all activists should be scholars” was Professor Emeritus Eduardo Tadem’s sharp response to Joe Quintero, a young geographer from York University who posed a simple yet provocative question that I paraphrase thus: “How did our activism influence our scholarship?” The question was raised in the panel on “Post-Pandemic Southeast...