MAY 2 - MAY 8, 2021


4 OPINION EDITORIAL


Trouble in paradise


With the daily number of COVID cases in the National Capital Region rising at an alarming level, one would be tempted to think those of us here in Negros Oriental live in paradise.


But it’s not all that good in paradise either. Negros Oriental just experienced the highest number of new cases last Wednesday since the pandemic began last year. That record figure of 53 new cases may be considered relatively small but we’re not just talking of a single day here. Every report that came out last week was in the double digits, that by Thursday, we had 318 active positive cases here in the Province. We have not flattened the curve


at all. Dr. Liland Estacion, assistant


provincial health officer, had to remind the public that we are still in the midst of a community transmission, where it is sometimes not possible anymore to determine where the virus is actually coming from.


METROPOST


DAILY NEW CASES 53


APRIL 28 ATTY. WHELMA SITON-YAP ECON 101 whelmayap@yahoo.com W


There exists, however, a continuing pattern how persons with COVID eventually infect members of their own family, or their work mates. That should be something to watch out for.


Negrenses may still enjoying life here in the probinsya, finding every opportunity to sneak out to attend parties or engage in other nature outings.


strongly about the color red? Is it the color of blood? Could it be the political statement from a grassroots organization? Is it a sign of protest?


Let’s just be very careful though to follow minimum health protocols like the wearing of masks, observing social distancing, and frequent handwashing or sanitizing. Some families wear face masks even inside their homes, or limit their family meal times to discourage talking while eating.


Red is the color of heightened emotion, strength, power, good luck among the Chinese. The color red is associated with passionate love, seduction, violence, danger, anger, adventure. Recently, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) used “Red” (Pulahan) to refer to groups engaged in political protests, and/or those associated with the political opposition, left-leaning ideals, the communists. That type of labelling is now known as “Red-tagging”.


government agency, organized through President Duterte’s Executive Order 70 on Dec. 4, 2018 with a budget of P19 billion. This huge budget was earmarked to be spent for the Task Force’s anti-insurgency projects, even amid now of


The NTF-ELCAC is a


hat is the meaning of “Red”? Why do people feel so


the government’s promise to revive the economy that was crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic.


P16 billion will be spent to implement infrastructure projects ,


barangays that were “cleared” of insurgency threats. This is in line with their aim of discouraging residents


and suppor t


Aquino III (G.R. No. 220028 J. Leonen Dissenting Opinion, Nov. 10, 2015),


Under the approved NTF-ELCAC budget, at least


“Red-tagging” as the act of “labelling, branding, naming and accusing individuals and/or organizations of being left-leaning, subversives, communists, or terrorists (used as) a strategy...by State agents, particularly law enforcement agencies and the military, against those perceived to be


Are you Red?


from helping, supporting, or joining the communist rebel movement.


Some P3 billion will then be intended for their operational expenses.


“Red-tagging” is defined as the harassment or persecution of a person simply because of his “known or suspected communist sympathies”. It is an act of State actors, particularly law enforcement agencies, to publicly brand individuals, groups, or institutions as...affiliated to communist or leftist terrorists. In the case of Zarate vs.


IAN ROSALES CASOCOT


TEMPEST IN A COFFEEMUG


Member, Philippine Press Institute


ALEX REY V. PAL Publisher & Editor-in-Chief (On-leave) IRMA FAITH B. PAL Managing Editor


JOEL V. PAL Online News/North America Editor RICHLI D. AVES Cartoonist


2018 National Awardee: Best in Photojournalism 2017 National Awardee: Best in Photojournalism 2017 Best in Visayas: Best in Photojournalism, Best Editorial Page, Best Edited Community Newspaper 2016 Best in Visayas: Best in Photojournalism, Best in Environment Reporting, Best Editorial Page, Best Edited Community Newspaper


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of civilizations in the context of that moment in time— probably an ordinary day, the sun out in the sky, the breeze gentle and cool, the waves breaking on the surf in the usual music of water upon sand.


I


first sight of the foreign. The ordinariness of the day belying the momentous repercussions rippling from that point of contact.


lean towards the fantastical to underline that point of contact. I once wrote, in a short story titled A Strange Map of Time about Miguel López de Legazpi’s men arriving in our island of Buglas in a reconnaissance mission from their anchor off Bohol, and speculated about the fate of their Bornean pilot Tuasan, who would be recorded missing in that venture to the


In my fiction, I tend to And then suddenly: that


have a fascination for “first contact” stories in history. I often imagine these clashes


ian.casocot@gmail.com wilds of Buglas.


I had him hurling far into the future of Negros Island after a shamanistic ritual, reborn as a sentient child to witness the ravages of the future, and then tasked to find his way back to 1565 to warn the natives of what’s to come with the arrival of the white man. (The story won the


inaugural Neil Gaiman Prize, and is collected in my second book Heartbreak & Magic.) I’m currently writing another story, this one based on an earlier Spanish expedition than Legazpi’s— the 1543 exploits of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, who named Mindanao “Caesarea Karoli” for Spain’s King Charles who was also the Holy Roman Emperor, and the smaller islands to the north as “Felipinas,” after the prince who would become King


Philip II. The latter would prove to be more fateful—the name stuck. But I imagined that naming as being akin to magic, which brings about a curse uttered by a babaylan, which sets into motion the various tragedies in King Philip’s life—including the defeat of the Armada and his eventual death by cancer.


You could say that my speculative reimagining of the Spanish excursions to our shores is my own form of post-colonial revenge in fiction—in both cases having our shamans fight a long- game of comeuppance upon those who dared yoke us into 300 years of colonization. But I’ve never written about that first real contact [at least with the Spanish] in 1521—Magellan, Elcano, and their men, in what is now being celebrated as the


‘threats’ or ‘enemies of the State.”


The act of Red-tagging persons with or without evidence constitutes a grave threat to lives, liberty, safety, and security of individuals. Organizations


frequently subjected to Red-tagging include civil- rights groups, religious institutions, health worker unions, academia, and the mainstream and alternative media. Workers’ and farmers’ groups and land and environmental defenders are also frequently Red-tagged.


it defined


engaged in pro-poor social projects, like Angel Locsín, Liza Soberano, and Miss University Catriona Gray, have not been spared from Red-tagging.


Even actresses actively


Lawyers have also been Red-tagged. The Integrated Bar of the Philippines called the allegations “ridiculous” and pointed out that Red- tagging endangers not just the wrongfully-accused but also their families and friends. The IBP also said that “Red- tagging is unfair, illegal, and disregards due process and the rule of law.” C o m m unity


pantries recently set up around the country by ordinary civic-minded individuals, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic , have been denounced by NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Lorraine Badoy as being “fronts for the communists”.


Such Red-tagging, however, has not stopped the mushrooming of community pantries nationwide.


Catholic Bishop Helder Camara rightfully said: “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”


Happy birthday to my only daughter, Dr. Frances Hope Siton Yap. Thank you for being a doting daughter and loving sister to your brothers.


*****


first circumnavigation of the world.


Perhaps someday I will. But for now, there’s the fact of the Quincentennial of that fateful voyage and the commemorating we are doing in this slice of 2021.


Panilongon is in the heart


commemorates the 500th anniversary of the victory at Mactan, the Philippine part in the first circumnavigation of the world, and other related events—collectively known as the 2021 Quincentennial Commemorations in the Philippines, mandated by Executive Order No. 55, s. 2018, which created the National Quincentennial Committee for this purpose. The National Quincentennial Committee is spearheading the 500th anniversary of the Philippine part in that first circumnavigation of the world [from 16 March to 28 October 2021], while the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines leads the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Christianity in the Philippines.


we celebrated the 500th anniversary of the victory of Lapulapu over Magellan in Mactan.


TO PAGE 8 And only last April 27, This year, the country


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