Image: Facebook/Lualhati Bautista
Acclaimed Filipino novelist Lualhati Bautista slammed the Duterte administration anew following the president’s claim that terrorism is the biggest threat to the country amid the health and economic crises.
Bautista pointed out that the country has much bigger problems at the moment than terrorism, which the government is trying to address through the controversial Anti-Terrorism Bill. President Rodrigo Duterte declared in his public address last Monday, June 22, that terrorism is “the number one threat to the country,” with the New People’s Army as the government’s “high value targets.”
“Ang terorismo daw ang number one problem ng bansa, sabi ni Duterte. Puwede ba, tumingin ka naman sa labas ng sangtuwaryo mo?” the author stressed on Facebook yesterday, June 22.
(Terrorism is the country’s number one problem, according to Duterte. Can you please look outside your sanctuary for once?)
Further stressing her point, Bautista listed down issues she would rather have the government solve first before prioritizing terrorism, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the plight of underprivileged Filipinos trying to make ends meet in these dire times.
“Tignan mo ang mga stranded na mamamayan na hindi makauwi sa bayan nila dahil walang pambili ng tiket, ang mga driver na namamalimos na lang, ang mga walang masakyan, ang mga walang makain, ang mga namamatay sa sakit at gutom, ang lalo pang pagkalat ng covid,” she said.
(Look at our stranded countrymen who cannot go home because they do not have money to buy tickets, the drivers who resorted to begging for alms, those who have nothing to ride, nothing to eat, those who die of starvation and sickness, and the continuous spread of COVID-19.)
Bautista underscored that the people are indeed terrorized, albeit by these said factors and not by the ones the government is trying to quell through the Anti-Terrorism Bill.
“Oo, terrorized ang lipunan natin pero dahil iyon sa mga sitwasyong iyan, na resulta ng kaayawan mo na higpitan ang pagpasok dito ng mga kaibigan mong Tsino na, oo nga pala, ay siyang nagdala sa atin ng sakit, na, oo nga pala uli, ay patuloy na nagnanakaw sa ating mga karagatan at kabuhayan,” the author stressed.
(Yes, society is indeed terrorized but because of those situations, which are the results of your refusal to tighten the entry into the country of your Chinese friends, who, by the way, brought the disease here and who, by the way again, are continuously stealing our seas and livelihood.)
“Sapat na bang sabihin mo ngayon na andiyan na iyan, wala na tayong magagawa? Talung-talo kaming mga mamamayan sa ‘yo, [Mr.] President. Talung-talo kami!” Bautista added.
(Is it enough for you to tell us that we are already in this situation and we cannot do anything about it? We have really been defeated because of you, Mr. President. Utterly defeated!)
This is not the first time Bautista criticized the government in public, however, as she is among the many personalities in the country protesting against the Anti-Terrorism Bill.
Bautista authored classic works in Philippine literature such as “Dekada ’70”, “Bata, Bata… Pa’no ka ginawa?” and “Gapô”, all critically-acclaimed for their social relevance. JB
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