Groups across the Philippines are gearing up for what they promised to be one of the biggest nationwide protests against the Arroyo administration and its efforts to amend the Constitution.
Category: Top Stories
Poor and Sick Filipinos Pay Dearly for Failure of Cheaper-Medicines Law
A law passed last year to bring down the prices of drugs and medicines has not delivered on its promise, according to consumer and health advocates. It failed to break the stranglehold of huge transnational drug companies on the Philippine market. It also squandered an opportunity to develop the local pharmaceutical industry.
Spinning Good News from Bad Economic Data
All these hard sell about a strong economy – despite undeniable data that the Philippines is on the verge of a recession — would be further exposed and discredited as the global crunch and the country’s own perennial crisis deteriorate. For Arroyo, the political costs can be huge.
Another Shameful Arroyo Legacy: Highest Dropout Rates in Years
The regime of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will go down in history as among the worst in terms of providing education. While dropout rates are common in other presidencies, it was only under Arroyo that the dropout rates for elementary and high school surpassed 10 and 15 percent respectively.
Int’l Group Alarmed by Philippines’s Failure to Stop Killings of Lawyers, Judges
Despite public statements from Arroyo denouncing extrajudicial killings, there is a gap between her rhetoric and what it has done to address the killings, said the group from the Netherlands and Belgium called Lawyers for Lawyers. Whatever initiatives she has implemented have failed to produce actual results, it said.
Another ‘Travesty’ as Congress Votes to Extend Life of Failed CARP
Farmers and activists protesting in Congress Wednesday night.
The landlord-dominated Congress, led by the relatives of President Arroyo, voted Wednesday night to add five more years to the implementation of a 20-year-old agrarian-reform program that has failed to uplift the lives of peasants and farmers in the Philippines. And critics say the new proposed law is even worse than the original.
After Con-Ass, a Cha-Cha Free-for-All
Several groups critical of the Arroyo regime met yesterday to plan their next moves. A number of protest rallies have been scheduled beginning Thursday.
Despite the rain, Filipinos protested on Wednesday against Charter change. (Photo by Glaiza May Muzones / bulatlat.com)
In Night of ‘Rape’ and ‘Outrage,’ Arroyo Allies in Congress Take First Step to Cha-Cha
Opposition congressmen tried to block the approval of House Resolution 1109 that would create a Constituent Assembly, with some valiantly opposing the apparent railroading of the measure. But the sheer number of Arroyo’s allies was overwhelming.
Soldiers ‘Abducted, Tortured’ Fil-Am Activist
“I thought I was going to die there and then,” Melissa Roxas says. “They held my feet and my hands down and doubled-up plastic bags were pulled down on my head and face and closed on my neck and I started to suffocate and I could not breathe anymore and I was seeing white and thinking I was going to die.” | JOHN EDWARD JANDOC, MELISSA’S COMPANION, REMAINS MISSING
As Cost of Education Rises, Dropout Rates Among Filipino Youths Soar
Tuition in the Philippines has increased by as much as 90 percent. As a result, the dropout rate has worsened over the years as school-aged children are compelled to work and help their parents earn a livelihood. And there seems to be no stopping schools from turning students into milking cows.
Related story: For Poorly Paid Public-School Teachers, a Daily Struggle to Make Ends Meet
Military Admits Existence of Order of Battle
By defining what “dominated,” “organized” and “targeted” means in its order of battle, the army’s 10th Infantry Division practically admitted that the document indeed came from them. Some of those listed in the OB are calling on international groups to investigate this “campaign of vilification” by the AFP.