Am I still okay? Perhaps we have asked this question to ourselves for the past week. A simple question that is, quite frankly, hard to answer considering the worsening sociopolitical conditions. I have drowned myself in academic responsibilities on top of personal obligations in our home. The 6 PM news has become a plethora of one bad news to another, from the continued suppression of freedom to detainment of activists who are merely exercising their democratic rights. I cannot even recall the last time I took a breath of fresh air out of calmness and not to calm myself down. The past few months have been everything but easy, it is time to admit that we are not okay.
The start of October has marked our 200th day under the government-imposed quarantine. While other countries have been slowly recovering from the virus that shook the global community, we still remain locked down in our homes with no hopeful sights in the future. As President Duterte desperately clings on the vaccine as our savior, the death of thousands of Filipinos have been reduced to statistics. It has been clear that the pandemic will not hinder the regime’s hunger for power and violence.
We have witnessed this in the railroading of the Anti-terrorism Bill as well as the shutdown of the media giant, ABS-CBN. The Allan-Alan feud exposed the power-hungry public officials, treating the speakership position as a throne of a king. Meanwhile, the Duterte Youth was proclaimed by COMELEC (Commission on Election) despite the fact that the party-list is unregistered and have violations. Who can forget about the Manila Bay dolomite sand? All of these things occurred in the midst of the pandemic.
To add to the pile of things to stress about is the fact that government officials remain out-of-touch with the reality that the masses are facing. Other than the nonsensical statements of Senator Cynthia Villar addressed to the peasant sector, she has been at the forefront of implementing the Rice Tarrification Law. The RTL is that is set to worsen the situation of Filipino farmers, the likes of Villar along with other landlords, have no care for the livelihood and lives of the peasant sector. To date, the Duterte Regime has slain 277 peasants.
With the start of classes in public schools, the Department of Education (DepEd) and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) have once again remained blindsided by the plights of the students. There has been an alarming number of students who have taken their lives due to the stress and depression brought about by the distance learning setup. The response of the academic institutions as well as the government is a mere “moment of silence”, without concrete solutions to address the alarming issue.
Dolomite for mental health jokes aside, many of us are on the brink of insanity. With the unaffordable healthcare, it is almost impossible to take care of our mental health. Moreso, the insatiable hunger of the Filipino masses for competence and compassion persists. It is imperative in these dreaded times that we unite against the enemy that is setting itself up for doom. It is clear that we are not okay but knowing this fact is not enough, we must join we must turn our rage into a revolutionary rage. The enemy of the masses is the system and the ruling class who perpetuates it. We must progress the national democratic struggle that serves the interests of the Filipino people.