Putting to work its National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, the Duterte government since last month has ramped up its red-tagging campaign against human rights defenders, militant people’s organizations and alliances, and left-leaning candidates in the May 13 elections. Instantly the ripostes were vigorous – denials, condemnations – from a broad range…
There is probably no question that the Duterte government‘s 2017-2022 plan to clean up and rehabilitate the gravely polluted Manila Bay, at the cost of P43 billion, is a most welcome, although much-delayed, development. Much-delayed because it was in 2008 that the Supreme Court granted the petition for a writ of continuing mandamus filed —…
This week I had interesting interactions with senior citizens in some barangays of Quezon City, Manila, and the cities of Caloocan and Malabon. These were public forums that had been organized to encourage voter participation in the mid-term elections to be held on May 13. They were visibly very poor: and physically their communities haven’t…
One was an editor of books and novels for 41 years, hailed by her peers as “the best editor in London,” who made a mark as prize-winning author mostly of her memoirs. Asserting and living out her independence to the end, she passed away recently at the age of 101. The other is a pastor…
He was fast asleep inside the bus, too tired perhaps to get out and stretch his legs during the stopover in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya, at about 2 a.m. Wednesday. So when a gunman boarded the bus to kill him in cold blood, the murder went very fast. The assassin then quickly left the scene on…
As the elites of global capitalism converged this week for the 2019 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland’s Davos resort, they were presented with dim projections of world economic growth by three multilateral institutions, the rich nations’ club, and a multinational corporate consulting firm. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its 2019 global growth estimate…
Almost a year after their warrantless arrest, detention and prosecution for alleged illegal possession of firearms and explosives, on Jan. 15 Rafael Baylosis and Roque Guillermo were ordered freed by a Quezon City court. Baylosis is a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the GRP-NDFP peace talks, which President…
The bungled witch hunt by intelligence units of the Philippine National Police (PNP) against the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) only reflects – in their implementation – the brutish style with which the government’s counterinsurgency policies and directives are issued by the highest level of command. ACT is the sole accredited teachers’ union in the…
For seven Saturdays straight till Dec. 29, the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) continued their protest in Paris and other cities in France. Protesters have occupied rural and suburban rotondas. They threw projectiles at the police, who retaliated with tear-gas grenades and made some arrests. Media reports say the grassroots protest is the first big crisis…
“As we take part in the festivities during this joyous occasion, may we also contemplate on the wealth of lessons we can learn from the narrative of the Savior’s birth to the calls of compassion, kindness and reconciliation being echoed throughout the globe. “Let these ideals and aspirations guide us as we embrace our fellowmen…
Days before Christmas, presidential ranting has continued to rain negative feelings of enmity, ridicule, and vilification against a broad range of critics of government policies and actions or inactions. Worse, it sows fear, intimidation, and threat that “Lulutang tayo dito sa dugo (We will float in blood)” against those branded as “enemies of the state.”…