Article 1:

The War with No End

TIME magazine

February 5, 2007

Summary

      Deep inside the forests of Mindanao, which is located in the south of Philippines, an unrecognized political party began to assemble. They are commonly known as the N.P.A (the New People’s Army), and consist of guerrillas and soldiers all fighting to overthrow the Philippines’ democratic government structure and create a communist nation. The members are typically poor people who show no obedience towards the upper class and are battling for the underprivileged. Some participated in the insurgence for personal rather than political reasons as well. The N.P.A. was formed when the Philippines’ domestic issues such as poverty, corruption, and unemployment were triggered and several Filipino civilians thought that the only thing the Philippines needs is communism as the philosophy for a well-organized government. A few years after the People Power demonstration, the N.P.A began fighting for their beliefs. They resorted to terrorist tactics to draw attention and warning to the Philippine government, currently the Arroyo administration. Numerous terrorist attacks and civil wars have taken place in the nation since the late 1970’s. The European Union and the United States of America have both recognized the N.P.A as a terrorist group, although some countries such as China widely consider that communism is the best first step to take in order to eradicate the issues in this third world nation. Although the N.P.A. is still fighting for their cause today, many guerrillas and rebels have been killed by the government and fewer people are joining the squad due to lack of enthusiasm. However, the N.P.A. still remains a symbol of the Filipino’s perpetual discontent for their government.

Personal Response

      The New People’s Army is, what I believe, an unnecessary pain to the Philippine government.  If the political party consists of some rebels who only joined in for personal reasons and a majority of the group is dying, the rebellion is not really worth it. The government should just declare the N.P.A. failure as a reasonable political group. Most former political groups have failed and retired from their campaigns, so why shouldn’t the N.P.A. just follow that rule? To prove my point further, communism is not a good ruling system and will definitely lead to instability and further injustice in this nation.  This article published by TIME magazine does not contain sufficient information on the N.P.A itself. Although the article describes the different theories and thoughts behind the rebellion group’s desire for communism, it lacks details such as the real reason as to why the N.P.A. was formed. Apart from the lacking of basic information, the article was very interesting and hooked me from the start. The images and words contained in this article really mirrored the situation between the N.P.A. and the Philippine government.

Questions

1. Do you think the N.P.A members, who fought against the Philippine army, died for good reasons? Why or why not?

2. What could be driving these members of the N.P.A. into persisting to fight for communism until the very end?

3. How will the Philippines and its citizens’ reactions be like if the government gets overthrown and the N.P.A. becomes the new government, ruling the Philippines by communism?

  

Article 2:

Philippine Population Climbs, Food Problems Loom

Reuters

Raju Gopalakrishnan / April 18, 2008

To access this news article, click here.

Summary

      The main subject of this article centers on the increasing population growth of the Philippines and how in spite of that, policies are not to be expected to change because of the Catholic Church’s domination over the government. The author points out that due to the escalating population, the price of Filipinos’ main food staple, rice, is rising to a point where the poor cannot pay for them. To emphasize the seriousness of this issue, the article draws attention to the fact that the desertification of agricultural land in order to build developed building is being stopped so the country can achieve the food requirements. The author also sat with the nation’s top economic planner, Augusto Santos, to converse about the situation. Santos stated that the government needs to reconsider its guidelines and give education for sensible parenthood and family planning, but he also highlighted that the encouragement of artificial birth control will unlikely to be used. This is because the Catholic Church, who supports natural family planning over the use of contraceptives, is a major influence to the decisions made in the government. Another obstacle is that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a Catholic who has strong association with the church, does not want to ignore them and refuse to get contraceptives. The article ended with a feeling of urgency that the population growth is not decreasing enough and that unless the government breaks out of the religious barrier to help, the population growth will continue to be a threat to the country.

Personal Response

      It was mind-boggling to me, as I read the article, why the government is hesitating to take strong actions now against the overpopulation issue in the Philippines. I then presumed it is because I am not a strong devout believer. However, I still believe that one’s religious conviction should not interfere with one’s choice to improve a nation’s health. In my opinion, President Arroyo is pretty much in a cornered situation since she is divided between her religious belief and her duty to think about the good of the people. Even if the Philippines’ overpopulation issue is not as dangerous as other countries’ dilemma such as China’s, this country faces an obstacle that China doesn’t. It is the fact that the country’s main religion, Catholicism, prevents the nation to improve its population growth. China’s Communism allows them to at least take action against overpopulation. The Philippines’ population is also growing closer to Russia’s figure (more that 100 million), but the Philippines needs to worry more because this country is not as big as Russia. At the end of the day, these obstacles the government is facing will still put them beside the other bigger, crowded places in the list of countries threatened by overpopulation. 

Questions

1. Why do you think the government is so focused on solving the overpopulation issue with the use of contraceptives? What other methods besides that would work as well?

2. What would happen if President Arroyo chooses to get contraceptives for the people and ignores the Catholic Church?

3. If you were President Arroyo, what would you do regarding the issue and explain why.