Before Malacañang through Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye announced President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s granting of executive clemency to ousted President Joseph Estrada – who was recently convicted of plunder – the President appeared to be facing a brewing political storm. With Estrada having been pardoned amid renewed calls for Arroyo’s resignation, the question of whether his camp…

What does Governors Ben Evardone and Joel Reyes of Eastern Samar and Palawan respectively, Francis Ver, Benjamin “the Broker” Abalos Sr., Lintang Bedol, Virgilio Garcillano, and Iggy Arroyo have in common? They all tried to absorb the blame for issues which could cause the downfall of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. BY BENJIE OLIVEROS ANALYSIS Bulatlat Vol. VII,…

BY + MOST REV. ARTURO M. BASTES, SVD, DD Bishop of Sorsogon DEMOCRATIC SPACE Posted by Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 38, October 28-November 3, 2007 The recent pronouncement of Malaca?ang on Erap Pardon is highly suspicious and full of self-vested interests. It is indeed the prerogative of the President of the Philippines to grant clemency…

While the use of anthropologists and other social scientists has made headlines, the utilization of “big-game hunters” as troop trainers for the “urban jungles” of Iraq has been essentially ignored. Programs stressing cultural sensitivity may be covered, but treating Iraqis scavenging in a weapon-strewn war zone as the equivalent of elephants, water buffalo, or other…

The oil legislation now pending in the Iraqi parliament awards foreign oil companies coveted, long-term, 20-35 year contracts of just the sort that neighboring oil-producers have rejected for decades. It also places the Iraqi oil industry under the control of an appointed body that would include representatives of international oil companies as full voting members.…

Michiel Pestman of the well-known and controversial law firm Bohler Franken Wijngaarden Koppe Law Office based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, referring to the case against Jose Maria Sison, said, “This case is the most political trial I’ve handled. This cannot be seen out of the political context in the Philippines.” But he added that he…

Advocates for the protection of the environment in the country are among those endangered. Records showed that they are among those listed in the more than 860 victims of extra-judicial killings, an international peoples’ anti-mining network revealed recently. BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 38, October 28-November 3, 2007…

The share of the poorest 30 percent of the country’s families in 2006 accounted for only 8.6 percent of the total country’s total income, while the top 10 percent account for almost 36 percent. This was almost the same as the 8.5 percent and 36.3 percent recorded in the 2003 FIES. BY IBON FOUNDATION Posted…

In today’s world dominated by ‘fast food’, ‘fast money’, and ‘fast habits’, people have obviously taken for granted the quality and safety of the food they eat. What seemingly matters most is not the acceptable safety standards of the food we eat, but just to be able to go through the meal and live another…

Datu Guibang Apoga, the chieftain of the Ata-Manobo tribe in the hinterlands of Talaingod, Davao del Norte, has been in hiding for a decade now. In the lowlands of Mindanao, his face is prominently displayed on posters in bus terminals and police stations as one of the most wanted persons in Southern Mindanao. In the…

A group of government planners and decision-makers agreed to get their act together to address the indigenous peoples’ (IP) agenda in all major programs involved in IP rights advocacy. This happened in a recent seminar on indigenous peoples’ rights and issues in Tagaytay City, which was a joint endeavor of both government and non-government organizations.…