by Mary Ann Manahan
A day after President Duterte was sworn into office in June 2016, Gloria Capitan was shot pointblank by two unidentified assassins riding a motorcycle at her karaoke bar in Mariveles, Bataan. Capitan was a staunch environmentalist and human rights defender who had led the fight against the open coal stockpile operating in her village and other coal-fired power plants in the province of Bataan.[1] Duterte had no direct role in the murder of Capitan but her death seemed to be ominous of what’s coming for the country’s environment and its defenders.
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