There could be no greater contradiction than experiencing or witnessing in our midst the militarization of an exercise that is supposed to reflect the sovereign will of the people. BY H. MARCOS C. MORDENO MINDANEWS Posted by Bulatlat MALAYBALAY CITY – There could be no greater contradiction than experiencing or witnessing in our midst the…
Ronalyn V. Olea
A Curse to Democracy
Extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, political persecution, baseless accusations, and arbitrary arrest and detention have no place in a democracy. These are contradictory to it. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Norberto Gonzales, Raul Gonzalez, and the AFP cannot claim to be defending democracy, for they are a curse to it. BY BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat The May 2007 elections are…
Kabataan Party Nominees Harassed by Military
Even the parents of nominees of progressive party-list groups are not spared of the harassment directed against them. Last March 13, the father of Kabataan Party’s second nominee and National Capital Region (NCR) chairperson Enrico Almonguerra received a letter from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) summoning him and Enrico to the Civic Military…
The Arrest of Ka Satur
Asserting his innocence and braving a police manhunt, Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo accompanied by friends and supporters went to the Supreme Court on March 16 to ask that the “sham and fabricated” charges filed by the military against him be dropped. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat “I entrust myself to the wisdom and justice of…
Kapila Ilubong Ang Patay? (How Often will You Bury the Dead?)
The seven bodies found in an alleged mass grave in Inopacan, Southern Leyte which were being presented in the multiple murder case against Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo, Jose Ma.Sison, Luis Jalandoni, Vicente Ladlad, Rafael Baylosis, Randal Echanis and several others have already been buried and used in a case somewhere else. BY KAREN PAPELLERO…
Witness to Murder Case vs. Ocampo was a Desaparecido
She bore him for nine months in her womb. But Casimira Roluna, 78 years old, a resident of Brgy. Cabungaan, Baybay, Leyte, has not seen her son for nine months now. Her only proof of life was the news she heard over the radio last March 7, 2006 that her son, Glecerio Roluna, 48, is…
Propping up a Bankrupt, Illegitimate Regime (Second of three parts)
U.S. support for the Arroyo regime has been steady even when President Arroyo was deeply enmeshed in a crisis and was almost ousted in 2005. Its political support did not waiver even when President Arroyo declared a state of national emergency in February 2006. The support of the U.S. is one of the biggest factors…
Southeast Asia and the Philippines: The Second Front in the U.S. ‘War on Terror’(First of three parts)
Southeast Asia caught greater attention from the U.S. after the latter launched its “war on terror” in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks. Southeast Asia, most especially the Philippines, provided U.S. Pres. George W. Bush with a venue to project the “global war on terror”. And Philippine Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo…
Christmas Outside Prison Walls
One may see “limited joy” this Christmas in the faces of three men who walked out of prison on December 11, a day after International Human Rights Day. They may be considered “free men” now but for them, the struggle to be free continues as they join a society that they say remains imprisoned by…
Asian Rights Body says Arroyo Gov’t Can’t Deliver Justice to Victims
The Philippine government is showing little signs of willingness or capacity to deliver justice to victims of human rights violations. This is the assessment made by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a non-government organization promoting human rights issues in Asia. The AHRC made this assessment in a report it issued Dec. 21.…
Japan Aid Threat Prompts GMA to Act on Peasant Leader’s Killing
Is there a connection between acting on a case of political killing and the Japanese government’s release of funding for an irrigation project? BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat Seven months after the incident, a human rights watchdog in the Cordillera said that Task Force Usig of the Philippine National Police (PNP)…