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By BENJIE OLIVEROS Analysis Bulatlat MANILA — The United Nations (UN), including its committees and commissions, is not known for straightforward and precise assessments and statements. Its reports and statements are usually couched in diplomatic language. This is understandable because the UN is comprised of governments, thus they would not want to offend each other…

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BY ALEXANDER COCKBURN CounterPunch Posted by Bulatlat How long does it take a mild-mannered, antiwar, black professor of constitutional law, trained as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, to become an enthusiastic sponsor of targeted assassinations, “decapitation” strategies and remote-control bombing of mud houses the far end of the globe? There’s nothing…

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BY JASON LEOPOLD Truthout Posted by Bulatlat Former Vice President Dick Cheney intervened in CIA Inspector General John Helgerson’s investigation into the agency’s use of torture against “high-value” detainees, but the watchdog was still able to prepare a report that concluded the interrogation program violated some provisions of the International Convention Against Torture. The report,…

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Maricar Evangelista, 35, a mother of four children, left the Philippines to work as a domestic helper in Dubai. Her story of abuse is similar to the thousands of women migrant workers who have returned home after experiencing various forms of abuses from their employers.

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BY JANESS ANN ELLAO Bulatlat RAPU-RAPU ISLAND, Albay — Three decades ago, the Department of Sociology of the University of the Philippines provided interesting insights into the actual power of women. Its study showed that women from the lower classes have more say in decision-making and holds the purse strings compared to their counterparts from…

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BY ARNOLD PADILLA Contributor Bulatlat MANILA –Oil firms, in particular the so-called Big Three, are again on the defensive. A trial court judge has ordered them to open their books of account for scrutiny. The order is meant to determine if the three oil firms operate as a cartel. Meanwhile, the Arroyo administration’s chief economist…

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By ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat MANILA – The chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), which has been engaged in on-and-off peace negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) since 1986, has derided new Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Lt. Gen. Victor…

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BY MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat A year ago this week, Crispin ‘Ka Bel’ Beltran died after falling off the roof he was trying to fix. He was only 75 years old. His wife, Osang Beltran, said, “to think that I’d been happily regarding his renewed weight gain and health recovery…” To this day, she still grits…

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BY IBON FOUNDATION Posted by Bulatlat As oil companies hike prices anew, a study by research group IBON Foundation reveals that local pump prices have been rising by more than the price of crude oil. An analysis of monthly price data from January 1999 to March 2009 shows that local pump prices have apparently been…

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By ANNA KRISTINA P. VIRTUSIO and CHARMAINE P. LIRIO Bulatlat QUEZON CITY — As the premier educational institution in the country, the University of the Philippines has been regarded for decades as the epitome of academic freedom and excellence. But with the near approval of the new code of conduct for students in the university,…

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