Day: August 22, 2009

By Jeremy Scahill The Nation/Alternet International Posted by (Bulatlat.com) In April 2002, the CIA paid Blackwater more than $5 million to deploy a small team of men inside Afghanistan during the early stages of US operations in the country. A month later, Erik Prince, the company’s owner and a former Navy SEAL, flew to Afghanistan…

By PATRICK COCKBURN Counterpunch International Posted by (Bulatlat.com) In Iraq and Afghanistan American and British forces became participants in civil wars which their own presence has exacerbated and prolonged. The US and UK governments persistently ignore the extent to which foreign military occupation has destabilized both countries. The reason for this should be obvious: foreign…

By ALDWIN QUITASOL Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat MANKAYAN, Benguet ? The local government unit (LGU) here is convinced that the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company is liable for the massive sinking on June 5 of Aurora St. in Barangay Poblacion. The disaster destroyed the Mankayan Elementary School and the Mankayan National High School and forced…

By WENDY ATUBAN Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat BAGUIO CITY? The ancestral land claimants at the Busol watershed who have been issued demolition orders despite having pending applications for ancestral land titles at the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) confessed being disturbed by labels such as “squatters,” “professional squatters,” and “informal settlers” used to…

By GRACE UDDIN Indigenous Peoples Watch Davao Today Posted by Bulatlat DAVAO CITY— A partylist representative and leaders of indigenous peoples’ groups in Mindanao said there is no reason to celebrate the 15th year of International Day of Indigenous Peoples as the tribes continue to suffer from the atrocities of the Arroyo administration. “The Arroyo…

BY JAILA SAGPA-EY AND JS TABANGCURA Culture Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat LA TRINIDAD, Benguet ?The early people of Benguet actually used ethnic blankets woven by the Ilocanos of Tagudin and Bangar, Ilocos Province. Contrary to the present generation’s notion that ethnic blankets are only used for death-related rituals and ceremonies, the early Benguets used…

By BENJIE OLIVEROS Analysis Bulatlat.com MANILA — The Arroyo government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines are seeing red again. This time, they are attacking, of all places, schools that serve Lumad communities. Long neglected by the government, the Lumad communities in Surigao del Sur under their organization Mapasu (Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod,…