As the Aquino regime enters its first year in power, it becomes necessary to examine the truth of its claims of pursuing “tunay na pagbabago” and treading the “daang matuwid” in the light of social realities that contradict the regime’s populist posturing.
More specifically, the new regime’s pursuit of US-dictated neoliberal policies has led to the government abandonment of the education sector and social services to big business, the continued exploitation of the peasants, especially in the Aquino-Cojuangco estate Hacienda Luisita, rampant deregulation and liberalization now causing the skyrocketing of toll, fare, and price increases, and the adoption of the US Counterinsurgency Guide-based Oplan Bayanihan that is bound to result in the same human rights violations that characterized the previous regimes from Marcos to Arroyo.
Pagbutlak, the official student publication of the UP Visayas – College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), is thus organizing a Forum with internationally-renowned Literary Scholar, Poet, Cultural Critic, and Public Intellectual E. San Juan, Jr. to make sense of the present juncture and provide a guide for a collective response.
Themed “Unmasking the Aquino Regime: US Imperialism and Revolution in the Philippines,” the Forum will be held on January 27, 2011 (Thursday), from 10:00 AM to 12:00 NN at the UPV-CAS Multimedia Interactive Learning Center (MILC) in Miagao, Iloilo. Everybody is invited. ■
Karlo, Maraming salamat for all your help during our visit. We just returned to U.P. Diliman. I am
am planning to send you a transcript of my remarks on Tomasito’s booklaunching. In a week or two, for
possible publication in your excellent PAGBUTLAK. Continue the good work. Regards to all the kasamas,
Sonny
You are always welcome, Sir Sonny. And yes, we would love to have a copy of those remarks for publication, perhaps in the lit folio. :)
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