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On February 14 to 16, 2021, G-Watch’s annual event—Ako, Ikaw, Tayo, May Pananagutan (AIM-P)—took on an unlikely theme: ‘Love and Accountability at the Time of a Pandemic.’ The theme jumps off from the idea that the best way to love during a pandemic is to hold power to account.

Ten sites in the Philippines held simultaneous events, both physical and online, which were attended by representatives from local government, youth groups, and civil society organizations, as well as citizens - in Marawi; Bacolod; Dumaguete; San Miguel, Bohol; Sibagat, Agusan del Sur; Quezon City; Puerto Princesa; Cebu City; Maasin, Southern Leyte; and Tacloban. Majority of the events were held on Valentines’ Day.

This report presents the highlights of the simultaneous events, particularly the key themes that emerged from the assessment and reflection, which are as follows:

• The interfacing of the national and local governments would be key to the success of the vaccination program.
• The upcoming 2022 elections can be an accountability platform for the government’s performance in responding to the pandemic.
• Despite the pandemic, citizens and citizen groups have adapted to continue demanding responsive governance and exacting accountability from the government.
• The youth are leading the call for accountability in COVID-19 response.
• The call for accountability in the vaccination program mobilizes multi-sectoral action.

By: Joy Aceron

Sectoral bodies are participatory institutions that are unique in the Philippines. The creation of sectoral bodies through laws demonstrates how Philippine institutional-legal framework values people’s participation and sectoral representation. Sectoral bodies institutionalize representation of marginalized sectors in governance, providing sectors formal access to decision-making to ensure sectoral concerns and issues are addressed. It is a mechanism for inclusion that directly addresses political disenfranchisement and inequality.

Some of the key sectoral bodies created through law are the National Youth Commission (NYC), National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) sectoral assemblies and councils, and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK).

Indigenous peoples have a rich and long history of struggle, and the case study of campaigning for indigenous peoples’ rights examines the work of the Teduray Lambangian Women’s Organisation Inc. (TLWOI), a federation of community-based organizations which is fighting for the rights of indigenous women in Mindanao.

Of all the books that I have managed to read, none is as deeply personal or as emotionally poignant as Subversive Lives ¹. Written as a collective memoir of the Quimpo family, the book narrates their shared ordeal under the Marcos dictatorship, and the hardship that each of the siblings had to endure in the course of their resistance to Martial Law.

Such autobiographical style allows the reader to form a mental picture of the series of emotional storms that had repeatedly overtaken this family of “subversives”—from Norman’s Christian dilemma as he agonized over the question of joining the communist-led resistance; to Ryan’s narrow escape from death as the soldier who was about to shoot him was suddenly distracted by an exploding pillbox; to Lilian’s sense of dread and shame as she was repeatedly humiliated by her military interrogators.

This provides an application of the G-Watch monitoring in human rights compliance, particularly on the right to food of the bakwit, or Internally Displaced People.

This provides an application of the G-Watch monitoring in human rights compliance, particularly on the right to vote of the detainees (or PDLs, Persons Deprived of Liberties).