I was part of a group that went on an educational trip in a mountainous area up north. In the hilly part of the barangay we visited, somebody hang a police line/yellow tape across a narrow dirt path, effectively preventing us from proceeding to our destination where our lunch was waiting. A few feet from the yellow tape, men with dour faces were in line apparently waiting for the order to bodily drive us away. The Company’s men said that because we failed to “coordinate” with the Company, we could not pass. If they were to let us through, they would surely bear the brunt of the Company’s ire.
After about half an hour of “negotiations”, they allowed us to pass. The “negotiations” were in reality, a demeaning act of begging the Company to permit us, Filipino citizens, to use the barangay road, which predated even the Company’s existence and operations in the area. We were also allowed to pass only if we walked in pairs and only if escorted by the burly men with dour faces, courtesy of the Company.
In a country where the citizens are reduced to begging a powerful corporation to be allowed passage and use a road that belonged to them in the first place, there is great cause to continue to celebrate Human Rights Day.
