By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective Malacañang finally released a copy of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement it signed with the US government. It is a 10-page agreement that gives the US Armed Forces free, blanket access to all “Agreed locations” to...
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective The Aquino government has been rushing two things in time for the visit of US Pres. Barack Obama: the “Framework Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation” between the US and the Philippines that would provide US troops,...
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective Look beyond the name-calling and the labels – communist-terrorists, extortionists, ideological orphans, Stalinists, followers of a lost cause – what do you see? Do you see people who have suspiciously amassed wealth and its...
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat Perspective The Aquino administration is about to finish its fourth year and yet, the country is nowhere near the nirvana of corruption-free government acting on the best interests of the Filipino people, which was the campaign promise...
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat Perspective There seems to be a lot of reasons for optimism on the part of the Aquino government about the Philippine economic outlook for 2014. 1. The Philippine economy grew by 7.2 percent last year, despite the devastation caused by...
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective Part 2 of 2 Part 1: The US trains its guns on Latin America once more| Venezuela in crisis? The Western press has been full of stories regarding the “crisis” in Venezuela: about the shortages and inflation, corruption, the...
At a time when the Aquino government is claiming to be instituting reforms in the education system, mainly through its K to 12 program for basic education, why is it that tertiary education seems to be getting farther from the reach of the poor majority?
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective Part 1 of 2 Part 2: Venezuela in crisis? Much has been written about America’s bombing and eventual occupation of Iraq, as well as its occupation of Afghanistan. Recently, the US announced its pivot to Asia, which would...
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective The festering, worsening economic and social crisis has not only resulted in widespread poverty and hunger, worsening social inequities and injustices, but also an alarming increase in cases of violence against women and...
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective The Supreme Court once again came out with a Solomonic decision: it declared certain provisions of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 as unconstitutional but upheld some as constitutional. The decisions of the Supreme...
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective President Benigno Aquino III reportedly called a Cabinet meeting after the Social Weather Stations (SWS) released the result of its recent survey showing that the unemployment rate rose to 27.5 percent, affecting an estimated...
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective In December of 2013, when Meralco’s petition for a rate hike was approved, Malacañang scrambled to justify it. Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said the rate hike is neither “arbitrary nor unreasonable.” Coloma echoed...
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat Perspective The Aquino administration has been boasting that the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, averaging 7.4 percent during the first three quarters of 2013, has been among the highest in Asia. In 2012, the country...
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective It has been more than three years since Benigno Aquino III promised to stamp out corruption upon assuming the presidency. Actually, among the promises that Aquino made during the presidential campaign and his inaugural...
By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld If the destruction wrought by typhoon Yolanda had a positive side, it was the opportunity it offered to rebuild the shattered communities of the Visayas into habitats that would not only provide poorer residents...
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective Filipinos have this superstition that one has to start the new year right because that would reflect on his or her fortune for the rest of the year. This is why deaths, illnesses, quarrels, having no money at the beginning of...
2013 is the defining year for the Aquino administration. First, the country entered the midterm of the Aquino presidency. All that has been happening in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the country is now a result of the Aquino administration’s own policies. It could no longer shift the blame on its predecessor, the much-hated Macapagal-Arroyo administration. Second, the Aquino administration faced the very issues that it raised against the previous administration: corruption, bribery, trapo politics, and political dynasties; and impunity in human rights violations and killings of journalists. Third, President Benigno Aquino III declared that it would finally settle, this year, the decades-old land issue involving the Cojuangco-Aquino clan. Fourth, its ability to respond to crisis was severely tested by the strongest typhoon to ever make landfall and a devastating earthquake, which hit the country at a time when the Filipino people has barely risen from two strong typhoons that hit the country late last year.
So how did the Aquino administration fare?
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat Perspective The Aquino government is using every opportunity to hard sell the increasing presence of US troops in the country. Right after Typhoon Yolanda caused massive devastation in central Visayas provinces and US troops were sent to...
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective Prices of oil products and LPG have been increasing monthly this last quarter. The latest increase in LPG was the heftiest, jacking up prices by P140 – P157 ($3.18 to $3.56) per 11-cylinder tank. Also electricity rates would...
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