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Volume 3,  Number 9              March 30 - April 5, 2003            Quezon City, Philippines


 





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NEWS AT A GLANCE

GMA joins 'Coalition of the Bayaran'- Bayan Muna

The party-list group Bayan Muna last week strongly condemned the Macapagal-Arroyo administration for “downright sell-out of the country's sovereignty.”

Reports have indicated that of the $74.7 billion supplemental war budget U.S. President George Bush has requested from U.S. Congress,$5 billion has been allotted to 19 countries, including the Philippines, as military financing and loan guarantees to compensate for the economic effects of war and supposedly to "wage the broader war on terror" in their respective countries.

Bayan Muna said the Philippines stands to gain some $14 million from the U.S. supplemental war budget. Roberto de Castro, Bayan Muna deputy secretary general said that if proven true, the amount would be a "trivial sum for selling out the country's democracy and independence."

Bayan Muna accused the Arroyo administration of being a member of the “Coalition of the Bayaran” (willingly-bribed).

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CPP chides “anti-war” govt’s for softening stand on U.S. war
 
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) last week chided the governments of France, Germany and Turkey for "cowardly turning their backs on the world's peoples and virtually endorsing the unjust war
of the U.S. against Iraq."

The governments of France and Germany refused to condemn the U.S. strikes in Baghdad and instead announced that they were preparing humanitarian aid for the Iraqi people. Meanwhile, the parliament of  Turkey has decided to allow U.S. aircraft to fly over Turkish air space.

In a statement, CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal also criticized United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan "for pathetically choosing to simply clean up the mess of the U.S. war instead of upholding the UN consensus against the war and taking on the historical opportunity to stand against and stop the U.S. war of aggression against Iraq."

 * * *

RP gov’t to help reconstruct Iraq

The party-list group Bayan Muna lambasted the Macapagal-Arroyo administration "for capitalizing on the spoils of an illegal and unjust war." 

This, after Foreign Secretary Blas Ople issued a directive to the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Trade and Industry to come up with a plan to help Filipino construction firms and manpower providers bag lucrative contracts to help rebuild a post-war Iraq.

Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo said, "Just as the U.S. government has pre-conceived the immense economic and political returns after taking over Iraq, the Macapagal-Arroyo administration shamelessly envisions sharing in such war profit."

* * *

2 suspected NPA symphatizers killed, 2 others missing

Puetro Galera, Mindoro Oriental — Two suspected symphatizers of the New People’s Army were killed in Sitio Pinagturian, brgy. Villaflor, March 23. The two were Fransico Rabano, 42 and Mariano Rabano, 25.

Franciso’s wife Julita said that about 11 p.m. of March 22, five  men in uniform forcibly entered their house and ordered them to hand over their supposed firearm. The perpetrators ransacked their house and burned it. Julita was able to escape but heard five gunshots.

Meanwhile, 30-year-old fisherman Teodoro Manongsong reportedly went missing since March 14 after military authorities “invited him for questioning.”

On March 19, barangay councilor Luis Aspecto was ordered by Col. Jovito Palparan to undergo tactical interrogation. He also has not been seen since.

A report by the human rights alliance KARAPATAN–Southern Tagalog quoted Puerto Galera residents as saying that Palparan, commander of the Oriental Mindoro-based 204th brigade, accused them of giving assistance to NPA guerrillas who were behind the Nov. 24, 2002 ambush on government troops.

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