There may be more to the Balikatan military exercises which are set to be held in the Bicol Region this coming April than the much-vaunted “humanitarian missions”. The participation of an overwhelmingly large number of US troops indicates a high likelihood of combat operations during the exercises, said the spokesperson of a Bicol-based anti-Balikatan alliance.
Day: March 14, 2009
Contemplating Poverty
About 30 million Filipinos living below the poverty-line hound the urban scene of modern-day Philippines. In the heart of Tondo, Manila, one can easily be acquainted with the images of destitute lives of thousands of men, women and children struggling amid the ever worsening situation.
Camille de la Rosa Invites Viewers to Find the Chalice of Knowledge
Enchanted with the surreal, Camille de la Rosa now prepares to introduce the philosophy of the surreal movement in the Philippines through her new work. And she is hoping that everyone will welcome this development. BY NOEL SALES BARCELONA Correspondent Bulatlat CULTURE “The way the surreal enchants the author is just like the earlier works…
7 Farmers Killed in Four Months
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Peasant Movement of the Philippines) raised the alarm over the recent surge in extrajudicial killings. It reported that in just four months, seven peasants were killed. BY RONALYN V. OLEA HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Bulatlat A peasant group raised the alarm over the recent surge in extrajudicial killings. The Kilusang…
A Killing Too Far: Rebelyn Pitao
Rebelyn was wearing her white school teacher’s uniform when she left home to go to work. “Ma, lakaw na ko (Ma, I have to go now),” she called out to her mother Evangeline. It was 6:30 a.m. – the last time Mrs. Pitao saw her 20-year old daughter. It was the last time she ever…
Chronicling the Efforts for Justice
Let the Stones Cry Out: The Continuing Search for Justice Published by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) 188 pages Let the Stones Cry Out: The Continuing Search for Justice not only depicts the darkness engulfing the nation but also chronicles the efforts of Christian churches and other human rights advocates in…
The Worsening Plight of OFWs
Fourteen years after the enactment of the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 or RA 8042, the problems confronting OFWs remain the same and are even getting worse. Without urgent action from the government, at least 41 overseas Filipino workers in different parts of the globe stand to suffer the fate of Flor…
NATO’s Global Mission Creep
NATO, the main overseas arm of the U.S. military-industrial complex, just keeps expanding. Its original raison d’être, the supposedly menacing Soviet bloc, has been dead for twenty years. But like the military-industrial complex itself, NATO is kept alive and growing by entrenched economic interests, institutional inertia and an official mindset resembling paranoia, with think tanks…
Celebrating the Bamboo
Bamboo is not just a material for fences, houses or pigpens. Its traditional uses have been stretched to include other non-conventional ones, from toothpicks to barbecue sticks. Now the bamboo is catching special attention. BY LYN V. RAMO Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat BAGUIO CITY (246 kms north of Manila) — Bamboo is not just…
Syudad ng Tarps
Nilililok ng mga struktura ng tarps ang bagong edifice ng syudad. Purong imahen, statikong karangyaan at konsumerismo, at ang irony nito, manipis lamang ang imahen na ito. Walang nasa likod ng imahen ng urbanidad at kosmopolitanismo. Parang sine, intense ang natutunghayan na nanggagaling di sa mismong harap ng manonood dahil wala namang nasa likod ng…
Niluray na Buhay…Kasaysayang Tumbas
NI ROMMEL PIPOY LINATOC* Inilathala ng Bulatlat Sa payak na liwanag, isinilang ang lahat Walang nilalang na namili kung saan siya isisiwalat Ang halaga ng hininga na sa iyo’y nagmulat Binasbasan ng pag-asa, pinatayog ng pangarap Upang malanghap, ang kaaya-ayang paglingap Sa ating paglaki, marami tayong kinalunuran Iba-ibang kautusan, nangibabaw ang dikta ng iilan Dumadanak…