By MARYA SALAMAT
Act, Migrante and Courage accuse the Arroyo administration of having a hand in the Comelec’s decisions to bar them from the partylist race. The rulings were released quite late last year, thus not allowing enough time for the three partylist groups to challenge the decisions. The groups have been active in campaigns against the Arroyo administration’s policies, corruption scandals and rights abuses.
By ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
As the curtain was beginning to fall on 2009, the on-and-off peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) resumed in Kuala Lumpur, with both parties agreeing to begin talks on the drafting of a Comprehensive Peace Compact that would resolve the Moro question. The year, however, drew to a close without any far-reaching movement in the GRP-MILF peace process.
by Tom Engelhardt & Nick Turse Common Dreams.org International Posted by Bulatlat.com According to the Chinese calendar, 2010 is the Year of the Tiger. We don’t name our years, but if we did, this one might prospectively be called the Year of the Assassin. We, of course, think of ourselves as something like the peaceable…
By SHAHID BUTTAR Truthout International Posted by Bulatlat.com We have failed to even investigate torturers, yet we have prosecuted and imprisoned millions for lesser offenses. And we allow mass murderers the benefit of constitutional rights that we deny detainees at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. Until policymakers examine and fix these double standards, they will continue…
By DAHR JAMAIL Truthout International Posted by Bulatlat.com Army Specialist and Iraq war veteran Marc Hall was incarcerated by the US Army on December 11, 2009, in Liberty County Jail, Georgia, for recording a song that expresses his anger over the Army’s stop-loss policy. Stop-loss is a policy that allows the Army to keep soldiers…
By MARY SUSAN LITTLEPAGE Truthout International Posted by Bulatlat.com The US could see as many as 300 to 500 soldiers killed and wounded per month in Afghanistan as 30,000 additional troops are sent to the country to launch a major offensive against insurgents, retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey said in a recent report. McCaffrey, who…
If there’s anything new that deserves much anticipation in 2010, it is the role to be played by reform-minded, cause-oriented groups and the “civil society” movement. Reforms that respond meaningfully to the demands for effective leadership and governance as well as wide-ranging social and economic reforms need a more assertive social movement.
By CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO Streetwise / Business World Posted by Bulatlat.com The ongoing trial of foremost Maguindanao massacre suspect, Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., has raised hopes in some quarters that justice will be soon rendered to the 58 victims (57 whose remains have been found with 1 still missing). Four other Ampatuans including the patriarch, former…
Inilathala ng KADAMAY-Foreshoreland Pagpasok pa lamang ng taon, nagsimula na namang nag-iikot ang mga militar na nakadeploy sa komunidad ng maralita sa Baseco at pinupuntahan ang mga bahay ng mga lider-maralita. Ito ang aktwal na nararanasan ni G. Allan Monterde, tricycle driver, ikalawang Presidente ng Samahan ng Mamamayan sa Baseco at kasapi rin ng Kalipunan…
New Year, More Challenges