Pamamahiya
Nagkaroon lang ng tsapa, akala’y kung sino na. Kung makapagsalita, mistulang diyos-diyosan sa kalsada.
COMMENTARY
Batanes in the crosshairs: Resisting Chinese territorial revisionism and U.S.-Japanese militarization in the Luzon Strait
Batanes in the crosshairs: Resisting Chinese territorial revisionism and U.S.-Japanese militarization in the Luzon Strait
The pre-colonial Ivatan society, defined by its fortified idjangs (mountain fortresses) and autonomous participation in the Maritime Jade Road, was a sovereign entity. To subsume their heritage under a Chinese claim based on ancient trade networks or proximity is an epistemic assault.
AT GROUND LEVEL
SATUR OCAMPO
Corruption top concern for businessmen in 2025
As the new year begins, it’s the flourishing corruption that the country’s business executives are most worried about, according to a survey towards yearend 2024 conducted by the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).
Two bits of good news lighten up the start of 2025
Surely, the increasing number of self-declared poor among our people is a cause for national concern. The government’s poverty-reduction program definitely needs serious evaluation, what with the contributory negative causes such as calamities, both natural and man-made, that come aplenty every year. This negative trend notwithstanding, two positive developments at the beginning of the new year provide us reasons to cheer up.
One-fifth of world’s children live amid armed conflicts
More than 473 million young people, nearly one-fifth of all children in the world, suffer from the worst level of violence since World War II (1939-1945). This, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, as lucidly reported by The Guardian.
BALIK-TANAW
PROMOTION OF CHURCH PEOPLE’S RESPONSE
Balik-Tanaw | Who sits on the throne?
Every generation faces a defining question. Not whether people believe in God, but which god they actually serve.
Mothers of disappeared ask: Where is convicted rights violator Palparan?
“Allowing a convicted perpetrator of grave human rights violations to receive extraordinary accommodations sends the wrong message—that accountability may be evaded by those with power or connections."
Balik-Tanaw | Called to become bread for a hungy nation
The Feast of Corpus Christi invites us to reflect not only on what we receive at the altar but also on how that gift transforms the way we live in the world.
BALIKSAYSAY
FRANCIS GEALOGO
Bagyo, baha at diktadura
Malawakan man ang pananalanta ng bagyo at pagbaha ng 1972, at ginawa man itong pamamaraan para sa konsolidasyon ng diktadura at katiwalian sa pamahalaan, makikita ring malaki ang ambag ng baha ng 1972 sa pagmomobilisa at pagmumulat sa mga mamamayan. Ang malawakang pagbaha ang nagbigay-daan upang mapasangkot ang maraming mga mamamayan sa pagbibigay ayuda dahil napagtanto nilang kulang o walang ginagawa ang pamahalaan upang maibsan ang pagdurusa ng marami.
Target: Obispo Ramento
Ilang mga Alberto Ramento na ang pinaslang ng mga iba't ibang rehimen hanggang kasalukuyan kaugnay ng di matapos na red tagging, panggigipit at karahasan ng mga nasa kapangyarihan. Hanggang sa kasalukuyan, pinagbabantaan pa rin ang mga taong simbahan na kumakalinga sa karapatang pantao, sa nagsusulong ng makatarungang kapayapaan, at pambansang kararinlan sa kapuluan.
Si Gregorio Aglipay, at ang pagtutol sa base militar ng Amerika sa Pilipinas
Sa panahong nasa ilalim pa rin ang bayan sa mga di pantay na kasunduan gaya ng Visiting Forces Agreement, ng Mutual Defense Treaty, at iba pang di pantay na tratado; sa panahong pinalalaya pa rin ang mga Amerikanong militar gaya ni Pemberto na pumatay sa kababayang gaya ni Jennifer Laude, makabuluhan pa ring balikan ang mga tinuran ng mga gaya ni Gregorio Aglipay sa pagpapakahulugan sa tunay na kasarinlan.
BLOODRUSH
SARAH RAYMUNDO
Dead souls in the sugarlands: Counterinsurgency and the moral life of solidarity in Negros
One cannot sit with peasants shaped by generations of landlessness, listen to mothers narrate massacre, watch children learn the ordinary disciplines of fear, and still believe history may be resolved through technical adjustment alone.
Missiles, markets, and massacres: Balikatan, ASEAN, and the war logic of US imperial decline*
As regional leaders convene under the Philippine chairmanship’s theme,“Navigating Our Future, Together,” the summit presents itself as a forum for peace, economic resilience, and regional stability. Yet beneath this diplomatic language lies a deeper contradiction: ASEAN’s increasingly visible accommodation to U.S.-aligned security and monetary frameworks, even as the region claims strategic autonomy.
Balikatan: Colonial foundations and the rebranding of U.S. military domination
The Philippines is not merely caught between powers, but incorporated into a hierarchy of production and control in which labor, land, and resources are subordinated to US imperialist interests.
FIRST PERSON
BULATLAT CONTRIBUTORS
First Person | Ilang alaala tungkol sa kababaihan ngayong Nobyembre 30
Mula pa nang maging aktibista ako noon sa eskwelahan ilang dekada na ang nakaraan, malapit na sa puso ko ang usapin ng kilusang manggagawa at kilusang kababaihan.
First Person | Day 1 of COP30 exposes climate hypocrisy
Delegates were greeted not by climate order, but by construction. Unfinished floors, half-built pavilions, and dangling cables set the tone for a summit struggling to meet its own promises.
First Person | Ka Louie and the alugbati
Ka Louie came into the dining hall with his smile as bright as the rising sun.
KALIBUTAN
KALIKASAN-PEOPLE’S NETWORK FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
30 Years of Mining Plunder: A Comprador Capture of the Philippines
Oligarchs wielding vast political and economic influence have exploited the Mining Act to expand their empires, amassing immense fortunes at the expense of displaced communities, polluted water sources, and deforested landscapes. Enabled by bureaucrat capitalists—corrupt officials who manipulate regulations, grant permits, and overlook environmental violations for personal gain—these mining operations thrive with little accountability.
Red lines for the Global South at COP26
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Standard Chartered, stop funding our destruction!
A Filipina climate activist tells a British multinational bank: "Your money kills people, fuels the climate crisis, and destroys our homes."
KONTEKSTO
DANILO ARAO
Senatroll
Para sa mga senatroll na kaaway ng peryodismo, sarili lang ang iniisip at halatang halata ang ambisyong manatili sa puwesto.
Kumusta?
Huwag tularan ang maraming senador na nagpapakita ng galit o luha bunga ng sama ang loob. Ganyan talaga umarte ang mga bistado.
Maleta
Kung susundan ang ilan pang pahayag ng mataas na opisyal ng NBI, nais nilang paghiwalayin ang mga tunay na peryodista sa mga pekeng peryodista. Iba ang responsable sa iresponsable. Iba ang etikal sa hindi etikal.
LAB NOTES
Advocates of Science and Technology for the People
On mangrove earth-balling: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
Our oceans are changing due to climate change. Destroying the remaining mangrove forests in Manila Bay will only increase the vulnerability of coastal communities, particularly those of marginalized fisherfolk and urban poor.
Lab Notes | Bakit naninindigan ang mga siyentista na panagutin si Sara Duterte?
Simple lang naman po ang panawagan namin: Transparency. Accountability.
Lab Notes | El Niño 2024: another disaster, another government failure
Since disasters always include human components, there is nothing natural about it. Therefore, there is no such thing as a “natural” disaster; there was a human failure somewhere in how social, economic, and political systems were set up.
OPINION
BULATLAT EDITORS
Memory as defiance: Remembering RJ Ledesma
Death is used as a warning but memory becomes a form of defiance.
‘We don’t talk about Taiwan’: Pax Silica and EDCA’s elephant in the room
Too often, Taiwan appears in international discourse only as an object of competition between states. I
How the conflict in the Middle East endangers OFWs and their human rights
The state must fulfill its legal requirement to repatriate citizens because this statutory right to mandatory repatriation exists as an enforceable obligation.
ON THE FRINGES
BULATLAT STAFF
The Mishil Complex
It’s time we stop waiting for saviors in barong or military uniform. The real leaders are not in palaces or halls of Congress. They’re in factories, classrooms, farms, and communities. They are the ones who serve, not rule.
Peace is possible after an intense battle
When I went back to Cagayan de Oro, I recalled our visits to Camps Abubakar and Darapanan. It made me believe that the current situation there showed proof that peace is possible even after an intense battle. It made me also think that a similar success may be possible for a group that has been continuing its armed resistance. I hope the Philippine government will consider the resumption of the peace process with the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army, and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
#Bulatlat24 | My proudest commitment: choosing ‘journalism for the people’
I chose to be part of Bulatlat, the longest-running online alternative news site in the country and the authority in human rights journalism in the Philippines, primarily because I believe in its principles and brand of journalism, which amplifies the voices of marginalized and oppressed. Bulatlat frames their stories based on the perspective of ordinary Filipinos while adhering to the highest standards of journalism.
QUESTION EVERYTHING
MONG PALATINO
Mga di-pangkaraniwan sa Utrecht, West Philippine Sea, at Cagayan Valley
Mga Pilipinong rebolusyonaryo sa Netherlands. Mga mangingisdang nakikipagtagisan sa iba't ibang pwersa sa West Philippine Sea. At mga aktibistang tinarget ng karahasan ng estado sa Cagayan Valley.
Political Dynasties and their Plutogogues
Denialists, legalists, and apologists are the plutogogues of political dynasties who make a career in legitimizing the irrational and unjust rule of the few even if it contravenes the interests of the majority.
Ang mga tula ng paglaban ni Desiree Jaranilla
Sa zine na kumpilasyon ng ilan sa kanyang mga tula ay masusulyapan ang kanyang katatagan at lubos na pagsandig sa kilusang mapagpalaya.
