U.S. support for the Arroyo regime has been steady even when President Arroyo was deeply enmeshed in a crisis and was almost ousted in 2005. Its political support did not waiver even when President Arroyo declared a state of national emergency in February 2006. The support of the U.S. is one of the biggest factors…
Day: December 24, 2006
Southeast Asia and the Philippines: The Second Front in the U.S. ‘War on Terror’(First of three parts)
Southeast Asia caught greater attention from the U.S. after the latter launched its “war on terror” in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks. Southeast Asia, most especially the Philippines, provided U.S. Pres. George W. Bush with a venue to project the “global war on terror”. And Philippine Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo…
Christmas Outside Prison Walls
One may see “limited joy” this Christmas in the faces of three men who walked out of prison on December 11, a day after International Human Rights Day. They may be considered “free men” now but for them, the struggle to be free continues as they join a society that they say remains imprisoned by…
Asian Rights Body says Arroyo Gov’t Can’t Deliver Justice to Victims
The Philippine government is showing little signs of willingness or capacity to deliver justice to victims of human rights violations. This is the assessment made by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a non-government organization promoting human rights issues in Asia. The AHRC made this assessment in a report it issued Dec. 21.…
Japan Aid Threat Prompts GMA to Act on Peasant Leader’s Killing
Is there a connection between acting on a case of political killing and the Japanese government’s release of funding for an irrigation project? BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat Seven months after the incident, a human rights watchdog in the Cordillera said that Task Force Usig of the Philippine National Police (PNP)…
Bananas Stained with the Blood of Workers
Since two years ago when banana plantation and packing workers began forming unions and agitating for legally mandated minimum wage rates, soldiers from the 28th Infantry Battalion have also started harassing them in their barangays (villages). The harassments took a more violent turn with the shooting of union president Vicente Barrios and four other unionists…
Open-Pit Mining Destroyed Village in Zambales
It was as if a giant used a shovel to gouge the face of the mountain in Barangay Buhawen, San Marcelino, Zambales. Below the towering rocky façade, reddish-black liquid formed a pool of poison. This is the legacy of open pit mining 15 years ago. And now mining companies are about to come back with…
Five Christmases – and Then, What?
For this Christmas and for four more Christmases to come, they are sure of a good roof above their heads. They sprang from the slums and are beneficiaries of a Gawad Kalinga housing project in Tondo, Manila. They were told that they are to stay in these housing units for five years. What happens to…
Duplicity
By Flon Faurillo / Bulatlat President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has recently backtracked on her avowed pro-Charter change stance, in the wake of protests from various segments of society including major church groups. Her move was apparently intended to diffuse the outrage spawned by the Charter change drive, particularly the questionable manner in which House Resolution No.…
Ang Paskong Mahal ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas
Ni Mykel Andrada Inilathala ng Bulatlat Nung nagsisilbi pa ako bilang Vice-Chairperson ng University Student Council ng U.P. Diliman (2001-2002), dalawang palisiya ng administrasyon ng U.P. laban sa mga estudyante ng unibersidad ang naipatupad. Dalawang bagay ito na umukilkil sa akin ng matagal dahil para akong ginulpi-de-gulat sa pagpapatupad nito. Isa rito ang Revitalized General…
Singapore Urban Legends
NI ROLAND TOLENTINO Bulatlat Unang Bersyon: Mga nasagap kong balita sa Singapore: 1. Uso pa rin ang pamamalo. May iba’t ibang laki at taba ng yantok na mabibili sa mga lumang tindahan, depende sa laki ng batang papaluin. 2. Hindi pwedeng pag-usapan ang yaman ng pamilyang Lee, ang namumuno sa bansa. 3. Bawal ang chewing…