Month: August 2008

How does one cope when a loved one was involuntarily disappeared? How does one go on searching for days, weeks, months, years, decades? BY BULATLAT HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Vol. VIII, No. 30, August 31-September 6, 2008 How does one cope when a loved one was involuntarily disappeared? How does one go on searching for days,…

After 859 days (two years and four months) of agony, the Tagaytay 5 (T5) are now free and vow to continue their crusade against injustices and to free other prisoners from the much-bigger “cage” of an unjust society. BY NOEL SALES BARCELONA HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Bulatlat.com Vol. VIII, No. 30, August 31-September 6, 2008 The…

I think no one will disagree with the proposition that our problems in the judiciary, in the legislature, in the executive branch, in the rest of our institutions and processes are inextricably intertwined and will defy lasting solutions unless we dismantle the prevailing unjust social and economic order and establish a truly free, democratic and…

Edita Burgos, mother of the disappeared activist Jonas and General Manager of the We Forum, called on journalists to rise above the “more dangerous barrier” to pursuing a story: that which is self-imposed. BY RONALYN V. OLEA Bulatlat.com Volume VIII, Number 30, August 31-September 6, 2008 Edita Burgos has been brought to the limelight since…

“The OceanaGold Corporation and Lafayette mining projects are both anti-people and anti-environment. These are the main reasons why OGC will not prosper and will fail.” Bulatlat.com Volume VIII, Number 30, August 31 – September 6, 2008 Environmentalists, indigenous peoples, and Church people picketed the Australian New Zealand (ANZ) Bank office in Makati City demanding that…

Four of the largest rural-based organizations in the Philippines have issued a statement opposing five proposed farmland-as-collateral bills in the House of Representatives, claiming they would lead to massive cancellations of land titles currently held by farmers who have benefited from the country’s agrarian reform program. BY GERRY ALBERT CORPUZ Politics in Command / UPI…

As Malacañang forwarded to Congress the proposed P1.4-trillion national budget for 2009 last Aug. 26, the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage) said that Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is really preparing for the elections of 2010, adding that they will guard the P1.41-trillion budget to ensure that it would not be used…

Political payback. That is how the members of the Water System Employees’ Response (WATER), the largest federation of water district workers in the country, see the appointment of former Surigao del Norte (1st District) representative and defeated administration senatorial candidate Prospero Pichay Jr., as the new Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) chief. BY NOEL SALES…