By MARYA SALAMAT
While both panels are moving toward signing a framework agreement, the MILF said, there are still a lot of contentious issues, after which, there are still the compact and exit agreements to discuss.
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Political detainee and NDFP consultant Alan Jazmines was transferred in the wee hours of the morning and was not allowed to call his lawyer.
By BILL FLETCHER, JR.
Is the so-called “special relations” with the US beneficial to the Philippines? Is the Left a spent force? What are the prospects for real change? In an interview, Professor Jose Maria Sison tackles these questions and more.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“Agreements are binding and not only pieces of paper. One of the basic principles of international law is that agreements must be executed in good faith. There are no documents without obligation.” – Jan Fermon, professor of law at the University of Maastricht and a member of the International Legal Advisory Team
By MARYA SALAMAT
The GPH talks whether with the MILF or with the NDFP remain bogged down until today, mired as these are in the GPH’s efforts to “box it in its counter-insurgency program called Oplan Bayanihan.” – Satur Ocampo of Makabayan
Sidebar: A saga of all-out euphemisms vs peace, the Moro and the ordinary people
By MARYA SALAMAT
“It was a well-planned raid, considering that the Army Special Forces were involved,” said Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of MILF peace panel, in an interview with Bulatlat.com.
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo Streetwise | BusinessWorld The cold-blooded murder of 59-year-old Italian missionary priest, Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio, who was a champion of indigenous people’s rights, an anti-mining campaigner and a human rights defender, jolts us all to the reality that President Benigno Aquino III’s promise of change is nothing but empty rhetoric aimed at…
By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star Eight months have passed since the auspicious resumption by the Aquino government of peace talks with the National Democratic Front that Gloria Arroyo had suspended in 2005. But now the talks are stalled again, despite last February’s reaffirmation by the two sides of 12…
LETTER TO THE EDITOR October 20, 2011 Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14) It is not an overstatement to say that faith communities expressed jubilation at the resumption of the formal peace talks.…
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com The peace talks between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) have again hit a snag. The GPH is blaming the NDFP for putting the release of its consultants as a “precondition” for the talks. Even as the government panel committed to release…
By INA ALLECO SILVERIO Bulatlat.com Support for the peace talks between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) continues to pour in as various sectors of Philippine society including religious formations expressed their stand that both parties return to the negotiating table and proceed with the next…