American volunteer shot

[Mike J]

According to an article in Rappler Mr. Lee is Chinese American and has lived here at least four years.  The shooting is also being picked up by American news.  As most Americans can attest, San Francisco is without doubt one of the most liberal cities in all of the USA.  I wonder if this will cause some diplomatic bumps between the USA and the Philippines.  I highlighted the particular sentence that I think is way too provocative on the part of one San Francisco city employee.  This statement is supposition at best and should not be part of any article that proclaims itself as "news".

https://abc7news.com/rally-calls-for-justice-in-shooting-of-sf-native-in-the-philippines/5455689/

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A rally was held on the steps of San Francisco City Hall after a native of the city was shot in the Philippines this week.

Brandon Lee is a journalist and environmental rights advocate who has been living in Ifugao, Philippines. He is in critical condition following four gunshots to his back and spine early Tuesday morning.

Lee is the first U.S. citizen believed to be the target of an extra-judicial assassination attempt by the regime of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, according to the office of San Francisco Supervisor Gordon Mar.

Prior to the shooting, Lee was "red-tagged" by the Philippine military in 2015 for his advocacy to protect the land and rights of indigenous people in the Cordilleras, and has been subject to surveillance and threats over the past four years, Mar's office said.

Lee serves as a paralegal for the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance. He grew up in the Sunset District where his family still lives, and attended Lincoln High School and San Francisco State University.

https://www.rappler.com/nation/237444-police-task-force-probe-shooting-brandon-lee

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – The regional police in the Cordillera have created a special task force that will investigate the shooting of Brandon Lee, a correspondent of the alternative online paper Northern Dispatch who was shot in front of his house in the capital town of Lagawe in Ifugao.

Police Major Carolina Lacuata, Police Regional Office Cordillera's public information office chief, said the task force seeks to immediately identify the perpetrator or perpetrators, and determine the motive of the shooting.

At around 6 pm Tuesday, August 6, Lee was at home in Sitio Dugong, Barangay Tungngod, Lagawe, Ifugao. He had just fetched his daughter from school when he was shot in front of his house.

He was rushed to the Ifugao General Hospital Clinic in Natuwolan, Lagawe, for medical treatment after sustaining a gunshot wound on his face and another on his back area.

He is now confined at the Baguio General Hospital under strict security after suspicious characters were seen in the area.

Lee, 37, is a paralegal volunteer for the Ifugao Peasant Movement and was red-tagged by the military in 2015.

International media has picked up Lee's story, with Time Magazine, The Guardian, Yahoo News, and San Francisco Chronicle writing about Lee, a Chinese-American activist who decided to settle down in Ifugao after he got married there.

"A San Francisco native who works as an environmental and indigenous rights volunteer in the Philippines was listed in critical condition Thursday after being shot 4 times in what relatives and colleagues believe was a political attack to silence him," wrote Michael Cabanatuan of the San Francisco Chronicle.

The San Francisco Chronicle also reported that Filipino and Chinese community leaders, including Supervisor Gordon Mar, will hold a gathering Friday morning, August 9, on the Polk Street steps outside San Francisco City Hall to condemn the shooting and call on the US Embassy and Congress to protect Lee.

UCAN, an international Catholic news wire, quoted Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) as saying that the attack on Lee was "an attempt to silence" those who speak for the rights of tribal communities.

"He has chosen a life in service of the people of Ifugao. As a volunteer of the Ifugao Peasant Leaders Forum, he implemented disaster response, relief operations, and recovery in far-flung barangays of Ifugao after Typhoon Pepeng. With Ifugao Peasant Movement, Brandon reached out to government employees and teachers in the province, working with them on sectoral issues and concerns," the CPA also said.

Bayan USA, meanwhile, said in a statement that "it was Lee's dedication to seeking justice for victims of human rights violations and the rights of indigenous peoples, farmers, and peasants that drew the attention of the fascistic government, specifically by the 54th IBPA who had already been surveilling, threatening and harassing him prior to this incident."

[Joey G]

Question... and just curious... I wonder if the the definition of "foreigners" in this context include Balikbayans who are now citizens of another country (in other words NOT dual citizens)?  Thinking about Balikbayan's who might donate to political elections indirectly, or even just post opinions on social media.  And yes, I totally get the right answer includes... "at your own risk" regardless of interpretation.

[Jack Peterson]

4 minutes ago, Joey G said:

Question... and just curious... I wonder if the the definition of "foreigners" in this context include Balikbayans who are now citizens of another country (in other words NOT dual citizens)?

 I tend to think it depends on what Passport they Enter on 

[robert k]

58 minutes ago, Joey G said:

Question... and just curious... I wonder if the the definition of "foreigners" in this context include Balikbayans who are now citizens of another country (in other words NOT dual citizens)?  Thinking about Balikbayan's who might donate to political elections indirectly, or even just post opinions on social media.  And yes, I totally get the right answer includes... "at your own risk" regardless of interpretation.

I don't think there is any wiggle room. If you aren't Filipino, don't go to rallies and Don't donate money. If you are married to a Filipino/Filipina let them do it, you stay out of it. I wouldn't like foreigners donating money to political parties or candidates in the US, why would the Philippines think different?

[Tukaram (Tim)]

I know Peace Corps volunteers that make people mad, by trying to teach them to farm or fish in more environmentally sound ways.  They are here with permission...  

Sorry this guy got killed, but it sounds like he kind of brought it on himself.  I would not get involved in that stuff over here! 

[Balisidar]

1 hour ago, Tukaram (Tim) said:

Sorry this guy got killed, but it sounds like he kind of brought it on himself.  I would not get involved in that stuff over here! 

I think he's still alive, just listed in critical condition.  And the protesters were calling on the U.S. Embassy to protect him.

But I agree with what everyone is saying about following the law and not getting involved with politics.  Heck, I don't even talk about politics (or religion) with my wife's family...after they drink a couple of bottles of Ginebra you never know what might happen.

[Mike J]

The one article referred to Mr Lee being red-tagged four years ago.  I was not familiar with the term "red tagged" so I looked it up.  Here is a definition from a Philstar article, and a link to the full article.  Makes me wonder why he was not deported earlier if they felt he was involved in Philippine politics and felt to be a threat or enemy of the state. 

Red-tagging is defined by Philippine jurisprudence as “the act of labelling, branding, naming and accusing individuals and/or organizations of being left-leaning, subversives, communists or terrorists (used as) a strategy... by State agents, particularly law enforcement agencies and the military, against those perceived to be ‘threats’ or ‘enemies of the State.’”

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/04/17/1910846/chr-warns-grave-implications-red-tagging-groups

[scott h]

to misquote some ole huckster saying "you buy your ticket and you take your chances"

 

[Arizona Kid]

On 8/11/2019 at 7:09 AM, scott h said:

to misquote some ole huckster saying "you buy your ticket and you take your chances"

 

I'm a true believer in the mind your own business philosophy. When the Mormon holy rollers come around to our place we just let the dogs bark till they go away. If I wanted to believe in a mythical figure that I should pray to, I would have done it when my mom forced me to go to church every Sunday morning to listen to some guy dressed in weird clothes saying stuff that I could care less about, wishing I could be out playing. Didn't believe it then..don't believe it now!

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, Arizona Kid said:

If I wanted to believe in a mythical figure that I should pray to, I would have done it when my mom forced me to go to church every Sunday morning to listen to some guy dressed in weird clothes saying stuff that I could care less about, wishing I could be out playing. Didn't believe it then..don't believe it now

I hear ya.  I prefer to believe in a Divine being than to kowtow to know-it-all scientists who tell us something different every century and expect us to believe that "this time" they are absolutely right.  I didn't believe it when they told me the earth was flat, I didn't believe it when they said the Sun revolved around the earth and I don't believe they have a clue whether cow farts or coal burning is changing the climate any more than natural causes would do it.

But that's just me.  I'm a believer in the "mind your own business" philosophy so people like Jack Black and Leonardo di Caprio should stick to acting what they KNOW is fiction rather than acting in pseudo documentaries about climate change.

Did I mention that I believe in God?    I don't usually mention it until some pompous ass starts denigrating my faith.  Then I get a bit uppity.