QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino Some academics lauded a partylist legislator who resigned from Congress because of the latter’s inability to faithfully represent and defend the majority position of his political party. In particular, the legislator said he already disagrees with the stand of his party to remain a coalition partner of the president whom he…
KALIBUTAN By LEON DULCE With the death of the New People’s Army’s Commander Leoncio Pitao alias Parago Sandoval, a stalwart figure in the Philippine Revolution has fallen. Perhaps unexpectedly, at least for the State, warm tributes to the guerrilla leader from the people of Mindanao were outpouring. Journalists expressed in different ways their deep respect,…
By BETTINA CATLI Bulatlat.com When I first heard that we were to attend an urban poor situationer, my first thought was, what is there to talk about? In my head, it was pretty clear what the situation was. I was remembering the crooked and dilapidated shanties, dirty-faced children running naked, and the occasional loud voices,…
KALIBUTAN By LEON DULCE (Columnist’s note: We released this statement last Friday,June 19, after reading Pope Francis’ entire encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si. We are publishing it in Kalibutan for everyone to see groundbreaking implications of the Encyclical rarely captured in traditional media coverage.) ‘Laudato Si,’ the much-awaited encyclical on climate change and the…
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com Talks of the impending Big One, the strong earthquake that would result from the inevitable movement of the West Valley Fault makes me relive the nightmare of the Baguio earthquake in 1990. Yes, I was in Baguio City when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked Luzon island and badly hit the Pine…
BLOODRUSH By SARAH RAYMUNDO “Working within the system” has been considered as the way forward to deepen democracy and participation in countries that were colonized by world powers such as Europe and North America, and its subsequent transition to “civilian democracy” after the brutal years of dictatorships (for example Chile’s Pinochet, the PH’s Ferdinand Marcos).…
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino If you think activists are too negative, then would you rather prefer the silent optimism of the apathetic? If unimpressed by the political value of streetnoise activism, would you follow the uncritical collaborationism as exemplified by the politics of former activists in the yellow regime? It is doubtful if people are…
By BETTINA CATLI Bulatlat.com The main concern of students, especially college students, is to pass subjects and finally be handed a diploma – the fruit of four or five years’ work, borne out of tears and sleepless nights. Once this is done, scores of fresh graduates go out into the world and join the labor…
KALIBUTAN Ni CLEMENTE BAUTISTA Buhay na buhay—at nagtatagumpay—ang pakikibakang masa laban sa malakihang pagmimina sa Mindanao. Sa pagpasok ng buwan ng Mayo, matagumpay na isinabatas ng Davao City Council ang lokal na ordinansang nagbabawal ng malakihang pagmimina sa kanilang lungsod. Naging matunog sa buong bansa ang hakbanging ito ng Lungsod ng Davao upang mapreserba ang…
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino These are precarious times. We live in a world plagued by mass poverty, chronic hunger, wealth inequality, and racism but we seem to lack the will to overcome these preventable miseries. The world order is already ripe for an overhaul yet many are reluctant to admit it. Worse, some of us…
BLOODRUSH By SARAH RAYMUNDO This is no way to die. That was my initial reaction upon reading the news on a factory fire that killed 72 people who made rubber slippers for a living. This is among the worst documented fires in contemporary times in terms of casualties. In 2001, fire gutted a budget hotel…