In my undergraduate years and just like any other student, I was confronted with the difficult decision of choosing a viable thesis topic. Initially, I had three general topics in mind, namely: senior citizen welfare and concern, protected areas management, and municipal fisherfolks situationer and struggle - all of which in the context of Cavite experience and to be viewed from the lens of critical political economy. After serious consideration, I ended up with the last topic with the conviction that it will complement my critical understanding of the other two basic sectors (peasant and indigenous people), which I gained from my previous DS and PS courses and field work experience. The research result reiterated the fact that the marginalization, underdevelopment and disempowerment of the basic sectors in the Philippine society are direct offshoots of the twin assault of foreign and local bourgeois exploitation and abuse.
