Girard Mariano Lopez

One Thousand March in Taipei Calling For End To Broker System

Girard Mariano Lopez
During International Human Rights Day on December 10th, an estimated one thousand migrant workers from Southeast Asia together with Taiwanese labor and human rights activists marched on the streets of Taipei for the second biannual migrant worker rally with the theme “No Justice in Cross-Border Employment, Where is the Responsibility of the Government?”. The protest was to call for the abolishment of the private broker system and direct government to government hiring between Taiwan and the nation of origin, as well as strengthened public services for migrant workers especially for those that face abuse from employers...
December 2023EnglishLaborSocial Movements7 min read

Inside the 2022 Philippine Elections in Taiwan

Girard Mariano Lopez
The Philippines has officially elected the former dictator’s family, Marcos, back into the presidency, specifically, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. or known as Bongbong Marcos, as well as the incumbent president’s daughter, Sara Duterte as vice president. Though election day in the Philippines was fraught with countless cases of violence, voter disenfranchisement, vote buying, machine “errors”, electioneering, military intimidation and various more instances that challenge claims of a “clean and fair elections”, the landslide victory of Marcos and Sara Duterte in Taiwan was won fairly via a peaceful and incident free month-long voting process. I should know–I was part of the poll-watcher group at the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei for the largest opposition candidate, specifically, Leni Robredo and her running mate, Kiko Pangilinan...
EnglishMay 2022Politics8 min read
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Girard Mariano Lopez

Girard Mariano Lopez is a first year Filipino undergraduate at National Chengchi University, and a volunteer at various human rights and civic organizations in the Philippines and Taiwan.