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By BENJIE OLIVEROS
An illegal arrest backed by lies, the use of torture, denial of visitation rights even from the government’s own Commission on Human Rights, the fabrication of pieces of evidence and witnesses, the refusal to honor the order of the Supreme Court -- all this point to what Makabayan senatorial candidate Satur Ocampo aptly called as a “grand slam day for impunity” and a “classic throwback to the martial law era.”
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
and RONALYN V. OLEA
Several medical and health associations expressed outrage today over the arrest, detention and alleged torture of 43 health workers. In a press conference at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in Manila, officials of these groups refuted the military's claim that the 43 are communist rebels who were undergoing bomb training when they were arrested in a raid on Feb. 6.
By ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
The Ilocos Region, particularly the two Ilocos provinces, is the main focus of a “humanitarian assistance” operation and this year’s upcoming Balikatan military exercises between US and Philippine troops.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
After three days, relatives and colleagues were finally able to visit the 43 arrested health workers through the intervention of Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson Leila de Lima, who earlier denounced the military for refusing access to those detained.
The Senate, which had its finest moments when it blocked the railroading designs of the administration-dominated Lower House, is now revealing its worst form because the May 2010 elections are just around the corner and the Senate has always been a jumping board for those who would want to become president. Sad as it is, the disappointing state of the Senate and the sorry state of the election campaign, and the election itself, is merely a reflection of the dismal and backward state of Philippine society.
By MARYA SALAMAT
A hundred members of Piston and the Alliance of Private Motorists against RFID marched from Edsa-Kamias to picket the offices of LTO in East Avenue last Wednesday to press for this demand. They are questioning the LTO’s seeming reluctance to refund the motorists and the LTO officers’ conflicting statements about the status of the money.
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Relatives and friends of the 43 health workers -- among them doctors, nurses and midwives -- who were taken by the military and police in Morong, Rizal province, on Saturday are set to file on Monday a petition for habeas corpus before the Supreme Court. This, after the military on Sunday continued to prevent them, as well as the media, from seeing those arrested in person.
Written by Palanca awardees Joi Barrios-Leblanc and Rowena Festin and Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP) member Grundy Constantino and directed by Socrates Jose, "Mrs. B" depicts the agony and courage of a mother searching for her son. With award-winning actresses Bibeth Orteza and Gina Alajar playing the role of Mrs. Burgos, even the desensitized and the unaware would be moved into tears. Although the two actors have different approaches in portraying Mrs. Burgos, both are so intense and so good that their performances are incomparable.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Concerns are being raised that the automated elections system (AES), which is supposed to be used in the coming elections in May, is vulnerable to cheating and that the Commission on Elections has been so inept in the preparations.
By ARNOLD PADILLA
Whoever becomes the next president will have to run a government that is almost P5 trillion deep in debt and with a budget deficit of P300 billion or more. Thus, whatever promises about providing for the basic needs of the people especially the poor are empty rhetoric unless candidates disclose how they intend to address the worsening fiscal situation.
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
For the farmers, peasants and indigenous peoples of Southern Mindanao, the past several years had been a period of great danger and violence as big mining companies encroach into ancestral and agricultural land, using the military to drive them away. Many peasant and Lumad leaders who opposed these projects have ended up dead and tortured.
By ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
“The First Quarter Storm of 1970 caught the attention of the people on a national and international scale. It inspired the youth and working people in the provincial capitals and cities to rise up and carry out protest actions against US imperialism and the local reactionaries and demand national liberation and democracy.”
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Since 2000, Alejandro Abaño could not go back to his farm in barangay Cabatianuhan, Alangalang, Leyte. In the first week of February that year, Abaño, together with some agricultural workers, was weeding the coconut land of his father when armed men pretending to be policemen came to their hut accusing them of being rebels. The armed men were allegedly hired by former Court of Appeals Justice Vicente “Cheng” Veloso, who claimed that he owned the land.
After three SIM cards, two modems, and countless earlier attempts, a Smartmatic technician tries to get a satellite signal after failing to transmit test results. When he did get a signal, he tells person on the phone: "Pare,di ko naman pwedeng hawakan ito nang ganito hanggang mamaya." He gets help though from a cameraman who lends him a tripod. This is just one of the scenes in Friday's Comelec Smartmatic field test in Agojo Elementary School in Pateros for the machines that are to be used in the elections in May. Photo by Renayes Reyes Jr.
By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA
Despite the deplorable conditions, the evacuees were unable to return to their homes because of the climate of fear that prevails to this day. Although heavily militarized, reports of the continued presence of the Ampatuan clan’s private army still persist.
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