Category: Top Stories

Progressive groups slam ‘special treatment’ on Napoles, urge vigilance against whitewash

“There is a perception now that this latest incident on the Napoles saga will be followed by a ‘political witch hunt,’ with Napoles as the main weapon, against members of the opposition and other personalities not aligned with the interest of the Aquino administration.”– Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani T. Zarate

With planned MRT, LRT fare hike, public to ‘subsidize’ profits of private concessionaires – RILES Network

Citing financial statements culled from past public consultations with DOTC and train operators, RILES Network said the real cost of a single ride ticket, which already covers the maintenance and operation, is only P9.50 ($0.21). What the government has been “subsidizing” is the difference between the current fare and the P60 ($1.35) per passenger fare it guaranteed to private concessionaires.

Tens of thousands gather vs. pork barrel as Aquino gov’t skirts the issue

What could the P10 billion government officials, in collusion with Janet-Lim Napoles, buy? It could finance free health care services for Filipinos for five years; it could finance the rice production of half a million peasants; and it could provide scholarships to a lot of deserving students so that no student would have to go through the desperation and helplessness felt by the late Kristel Tejada.

People power: Disgust over the pork barrel system and corruption

For the first time, the Aquino administration, which rode on the people’s disgust over the scandalous corruption under the previous Arroyo government to propel Benigno Aquino III – who was never remarkable during his stint in Congress – to Malacañang, is facing the people’s wrath over, of all things, corruption and the pork barrel system. This is the biggest challenge that the Aquino government, which claims it is trekking the daang matuwid, is facing. The broadness of the protest activity today is strikingly similar to that of Edsa 1, in which, ironically, his mother the late president Corazon Aquino was the icon of. Luneta, where the protest activity would be held today August 26, was also the site of Corazon Aquino’s Tagumpay ng Bayan (People’s Victory Rally) on February 16, 1986, where she launched a civil disobedience campaign to force the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to vacate Malacañang.