Yesterday on the long ride to work, I happened to sit next to a female lay preacher. She didn’t sound like she wanted to scare us; it was not even a warning of a grim and terrible nature; she sounded, in fact, concerned. She was reminding us. She said that it was always best to be prepared, to be always ready to speak to God when we meet Him of a life well lived and meaningful.
Category: On the Fringes
What Newsbreak Failed to Report About the ‘Morong 5’
As a journalist who has been covering the Morong 43 from the day of their arrest, I know that the five, like the rest of the 43 health workers, are victims of torture and ill-treatment.
‘Wake-Up Call’ for Abusive Mining Companies in the Philippines
Abuses by mining companies are not new in the Philippines. Destructive mining have, for decades and in tandem with wanton logging and the equally destructive building of dams, destroyed and poisoned whole communities. Mining companies have been shortchanging these communities. Worse, these firms have been using the police, the military and paramilitary units as their security guards, leading to human-rights abuses such as those suffered by the Ifugaos in Nueva Vizcaya.
An Activist Looks Back on Edsa 2
We were young, full of energy and were willing to do anything to contribute toward change.
“Sampung taon na pala iyon?” I told Sally, and laughed. “Naramdaman mo bang tumanda tayo ng sampung taon?” I added. We went on sharing memories, those moments when we held meetings until the wee hours of the night at the Anakbayan headquarters on P. Noval in Sampaloc, Manila; the allies we encountered during the campaign; all the “gimmicks” we devised to oust Estrada and even the times when we skipped meals because we had no money; and many more.
2010 Elections: ‘Caught in the Middle’: A Journalist Witnesses Violence in Lanao del Sur
By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA / Kodao Productions / Bulatlat.com
I was caught in the middle of a gunfight that lasted hours in Tugaya, Lanao del Sur while covering the country’s first-ever automated elections. I don’t know if being ‘caught in the middle’ is a correct description because I was there as a journalist and had prior knowledge that that town is a poll hotspot. But I use it nonetheless because I did not want the gunfight to happen, much less witness it up close.
2010 Elections: Voting Made More Difficult
Automation and computerization are supposed to make life easier. It is supposed to speed up processes by minimizing human intervention. After all, machines are more efficient, more precise, and do not tire easily compared to humans. However, this is not the case with the first Philippine Automated Election System.
Brawner’s best is not good enough
Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Public Information Office is hoodwinking the public when he says that AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Victor Ibrado is ordering the transfer of the 43 health workers collectively known as the Morong 43 to a Philippine National Police (PNP) facility, even as they have supposedly communicated their desire to remain at the military’s Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, where they are now detained. He is trying to make the AFP and its chief of staff appear more magnanimous than they actually are.
The AFP is telling us we need more NPA guerrillas
The AFP tries to malign the 43 health workers by calling them communists. Instead, the military is suggesting to the country that NPA guerrillas are dedicated and seriously serving the people, against all odds. The AFP could win its case in the Court of Appeals but it would lose the war against the NPA and public opinion.
A disservice to Ampatuan Massacre victims
By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA
Something happened during the National Interfaith Mission for Peace and Justice visit to the massacre site in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan, Maguindanao, last January 23 that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. As an “embedded” Bulatlat correspondent in the mission from Cotabato City, I, along with my Kodao and Pinoy Weekly colleagues, had no inkling that something was wrong when we started out that day.
Human Rights Watch ‘World Report’: Abusers target human-rights defenders
Human Rights Watch, based in New York, just released its World Report on human rights. It blamed the Philippine government for the rise of private armies. It also blamed the “culture of impunity” in the Philippines for the Ampatuan massacre and other killings.
Questionable partylist groups accredited again by Comelec, says Bayan
The Comelec has accredited at least nine party-list groups identified with the Arroyo regime, according to Bayan.