By RONALYN V. OLEA
The murder earlier this month of a Catholic priest, Father Cecilio Lucero, has enraged leaders of the Catholic Church. “I can not stomach what Malacañang is doing,” said recently retired Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz of the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. “It seems they do not fear God.”
By ALDWIN QUITASOL Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat.com BAGUIO CITY — The 17th of this month marks one year since James Balao, Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) founding member was abducted by suspected military agents. The Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), Balao’s family and friends called for mabtad and reiterated their demand for government to stop…
By RONALYN V. OLEA
At around 6 a.m. today, three men were seen taking photos and asking information regarding Lumbera’s house in a subdivision in Quezon City. Village guards approached and apprehended one of them.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Since 2001 when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency, the trade union movement, like other peoples movement in the Philippines, has been experiencing violations of their rights as humans and as workers in a level never before seen in our country’s post-Martial Law politics, the Kilusang Mayo Uno said. The group welcomes the first International Labor Organization-High-Level Mission to the Philippines this month.
By ZOFIA LEAL
Another mother has gone to a place she had never been to find her missing son. Wilma Rodriguez has just started her long journey. Nagtatapang-tapangan lang ako. Hindi talaga ako matapang. Pero kapag hindi ka lumaban, hindi rin titigil ang mga yan,” (I just try to be a fighter. I am not really a fighter. Because if you don’t fight, they would not stop.) she said.
By ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO DynCorp International, a US military contractor notorious for its mercenary work for Washington and which was the subject of numerous complaints for abuses in other countries, has been fencing off the Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga for US troops. “How can a private, foreign corporation control a specific portion of a Philippine military camp?” Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares wants to know.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“This is a grotesque and irresponsible display of insensitivity to the Filipino people who suffered and have been victimized under Martial Law,” Marie Hilao-Enriquez, a martial law victim and secretary general of Selda, said of the tribute by the Cultural Center of the Philippines to the wife of the dictator Marcos.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
While the right of indigenous peoples to their ancestral land is recognized by international agreements and conventions, indigenous peoples in the Philippines are relentlessly being driven away by mining, tourism and other so-called development projects. In Zambales alone, more than 70 mining firms are now operating, with some preventing the Aetas from entering what used to be their land.
“Most martyrs of the Church who actively denounced the abuses of government officials and military forces received series of death threats and were tagged as communists or NPA supporters by military,” said Nardy Sabino, secretary-general of the Promotion of Church People’s Response.
By MARYA SALAMAT
As Rachel Tiongson battles the powerful Chavit Singson, women leaders are castigating the Arroyo regime for shirking its responsibilities to uphold the law. They urge the president to “severely sanction” Singson for brutally beating up – at one point by using a tiger whip – the mother of his five children.