When Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivers what is supposed to be her last State of the Nation Address this Monday, she will probably claim that she has accomplished what she said she had set out to do in 2001 and 2004. To her critics, however, the past nine years have been “the reign of Gollum.”
By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com MANILA — Even for lowly jobs, Filipino are required to submit proofs of clean bill of health to show that they are fit. What more for the job of president of the Philippines? In a press conference Saturday, leaders of organizations of doctors, nurses and health workers reported the result of…
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com MANILA — Bayan Muna (People First) Rep. Teodoro Casiño filed on July 25 a bill that would recognize the observance of the said date as the National Campus Press Freedom Day. Aside from marking July 25 as a special day for the campus press, House Bill No. 6611, or…
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com MANILA – The Arroyo regime’s plan to change the Philippine Constitution will worsen the country’s environmental destruction and will dispossess indigenous peoples even more. This was the consensus of several leaders of the environmental and IP movements in a recent forum at the University of the Philippines, where they…
Melissa Roxas’s description of the place where she was brought and tortured seemed consistent with what the CHR found during a visit to Fort Magsaysay. But military officials deny soldiers were behind the atrocity. “Fort Magsaysay is a tourist destination,” one of them told the commissioners.
“My continued detention shows that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines is not serious in lifting the suspension of the Jasig. There is political pressure to keep me in jail. But they are no match against the mass movement who spared no effort in their support,” Principe said. 
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Earlier:
Principe Finally Freed from Camp Crame Jail
Military Blocks Release of Political Prisoner
Elizabeth Principe’s release followed a protest by supporters today in front of Camp Crame, the headquarters of the Philippine National Police, and after Principe held a brief hunger strike to denounce the military’s attempt to prevent her from being freed despite a court order dismissing all charges against her.
Marie Hilao Enriquez, secretary-general of Karapatan, told Bulatlat that the military refused to release Elizabeth Principe’s clearance papers. “This is already a case of illegal detention since the court has already ordered her release,” Enriquez said. Principe was supposed to be freed Monday night.
MANILA — Melissa Roxas, the American activist who was kidnapped and tortured allegedly by Filipino soldiers in May, arrived from the United States last night to pursue her case against her captors. In a press conference at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Roxas said she returned to the Philippines to pursue her case, not just…
A Bulatlat.com Exclusive Having to leave the Philippines for the United States when she was nine years old was a particularly painful experience for Filipino-American Melissa Roxas. Her desire to trace her roots brought her back to the country of her birth where, in May, soldiers kidnapped and tortured her for days.
A troubled economy, widespread joblessness, human-rights violations, corruption, and political maneuverings are whipping public discontent against Arroyo, warns Ibon Foundation.