By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat BAGUIO CITY – An Abra journalist whose house was fired upon a month ago by unidentified gunmen has appealed to the police for an immediate resolution of her case as she feels threatened while the perpetrators are still roaming free. Still clueless about who the perpetrators…
Month: June 2009
Cordillera Groups Rise Up Vs. Cha-cha
By ALDWIN QUITASOL Regions Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat BAGUIO CITY ? Various progressive groups here in this city 246 kms. north of Manila held an indignation rally June 3 against the railroading of House Resolution 1109 that seeks to convene Congress into a Constituent Assembly (Con-ass). The House of Representatives voted on the resolution…
Cordillera Tribes Heighten Struggle Against Large-Scale Mines in Chico River Watersheds
By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW Northern Dispatch Indigenous Peoples Watch Posted by Bulatlat BONTOC, Mountain Province – Like the anti-Chico Dam struggle in the 1980s, tribal elders in this province, 394 kms. north of Manila, and nearby Kalinga are renewing their cooperation, including their peace pact (bodong or pechen), in their new struggle to defend their…
An Open Letter of Concern on the 2009 Philippine Independence Day Celebration In New York City
Dear Philippine Consul General Cecilia Rebong, We write this in the midst of preparations for the upcoming and much-anticipated Philippine Independence Day Celebration (PIDC) in New York City! Like the rest of the Filipino community in New York, we are looking forward to commemorating with our fellow kababayan the Philippine Independence from three centuries of…
The Future of Israel and the Decline of the American Empire: The Wages of Hubris and Vengeance
By ARNO J. MEYER CounterPunch International Posted by Bulatlat Israel is in the grip of a kind of collective schizophrenia. Not only its governors but the majority of its Jewish population have delusions of both grandeur and persecution, making for a distortion of reality and inconsistent behavior. Israeli Jews see and represent themselves as a…
Obama in Cairo: High Words, Low Truths
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN CounterPunch International Posted by Bulatlat As they drafted his speech to the Muslim world, delivered in Cairo on Thursday, June 4, President Obama’s speech writers strove to suggest that cordiality towards Islam is soundly embedded in America’s cultural history. The first Muslim congressman, Obama confided to his vast audience across the Muslim…
Another Shameful Arroyo Legacy: Highest Dropout Rates in Years
The regime of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will go down in history as among the worst in terms of providing education. While dropout rates are common in other presidencies, it was only under Arroyo that the dropout rates for elementary and high school surpassed 10 and 15 percent respectively.
Obama Speaks: Will Palestine or Pakistan Decide?
By STEVE WEISSMAN Truthout International Posted by Bulatlat From his first “greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum,” President Barack Hussein Obama showed how to use the bully pulpit. Some listeners might have found him pedantic or even preachy, but he was delivering his sermon to American and Israeli audiences as…
Right of Reply Bill Part of Larger Scheme – Media Groups
By RONALYN V. OLEA Bulatlat MANILA — The Right of Reply Bill had been scheduled for deliberation, if not passage, on Wednesday at the House of Representatives, one of the measures that legislators were supposed to be rushing for approval before Congress went on recess beginning June 5. That the legislators adjourned their session on…
Int’l Group Alarmed by Philippines’s Failure to Stop Killings of Lawyers, Judges
Despite public statements from Arroyo denouncing extrajudicial killings, there is a gap between her rhetoric and what it has done to address the killings, said the group from the Netherlands and Belgium called Lawyers for Lawyers. Whatever initiatives she has implemented have failed to produce actual results, it said.
Benjie Oliveros | Cha-Cha: A Desperate Political Gamble
Perhaps the regime figured that enabling Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to extend her immunity by allowing her to run as representative of her district and then become prime minister is less costly politically — with less chances as well of inviting an upheaval — than postponing the 2010 elections or declaring martial law, without completely closing its…