By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld Olongapo City prosecutor Emilie Fe de los Santos declared the other day during the preliminary investigation of the murder charge against Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton of the United States Marine Corps that “there is no gender issue” involved in the killing of Jennifer Laude. “The…
Tags: Visiting Forces Agreement
Unequal relations invites impunity
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo Streetwise | BusinessWorld Much to the consternation of US and Philippine officialdom, the brutal killing of Jennifer Laude by suspect Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton has placed the issue of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) front and center of the demand for justice in this latest crime committed by a member…
EDCA — negotiated surrender of sovereignty
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo Streetwise | BusinessWorld Now we know why the “negotiations” for what would emerge as the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) were conducted under a cloak of secrecy. Not a single byte of the draft was made available to other government functionaries, not even the treaty-making arm of the Philippine state, the Senate,…
US bases: Aquino’s gift to Obama
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo Streetwise | BusinessWorld This April, during the much-awaited visit of US President Barack Obama, Philippine President BS Aquino will be serving nothing less than our national sovereignty and dignity on a silver platter via the new “access agreement” negotiated in secret by the two governments. All that remains to be worked out,…
VFA: US cloak of impunity
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo Streetwise | BusinessWorld The Philippine government’s quick and, some say harsh, handling of the crew of a grounded Chinese fishing vessel at the Tubbataha Reefs, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a protected marine reserve by Philippine law, in contrast to the soft and tentative response to the grounding of the USS…
Toxic waste dumped in Subic fuels calls for abrogation of VFA
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
“It’s not a question of who dumped the toxic waste. The question is whose toxic waste was dumped into our territory. Though Glenn Defense remains accountable for the act, the biggest accountability goes to the US and Aquino governments.” – Rep. Emmi de Jesus, Gabriela Women’s Party
Reveal details of VFA review, negotiations with US – progressive groups
By MARYA SALAMAT
“We do not need the government to once again sell out our sovereignty.” – Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño
Economic interests behind push for greater US military presence in the region
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com If US military presence overseas is about ensuring peace and stability, why did it invade Afghanistan and Iraq, and why is it now provoking Iran? If the US is really serious about pushing for human rights and democracy, why is it constricting civil liberties through the Patriot Act and why is…
Why beg for an increase in US military presence?
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com It has now hit the headlines, the US is negotiating with the Aquino government for an increase in its military presence in the country through more frequent joint military exercises and other military cooperation activities, and an increase in the number of US troops rotating in the country. Recent policy pronouncements…
CenPEG | When Security Policies are Based on Lies
The “war on terror” policy pursued by the past Macapagal-Arroyo administration should be declared as good as dead and should be abandoned by the incumbent President. That policy was based hook, line, and sinker on former U.S. President George W. Bush, Jr.’s neo-conservative theory linking Iraq to the 9/11 bombings. Now, an Iraqi defector who was the primary source of so-called intelligence reports that were used to make a case for Bush’s Operation Iraqi Freedom has confessed that he made the whole story up. (By Center for People Empowerment in Governance / bulatlat.com)
Benjie Oliveros | A Defining Trip
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Analysis Bulatlat.com President Benigno Aquino III has barely reached his 80 days in office and so may issues have already shaped his administration. The Hacienda Luisita land dispute and the Philippine Airlines labor issue have shown how the administration would position itself on issues affecting the working masses; he kept a “hands…