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Progressives slam Aquino’s mendicancy, sellout to US imperial interests

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Progressives slam Aquino’s mendicancy, sellout to US imperial interests


By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – A few weeks after American senators had visited Manila, anti-China pronouncements began to ring loud again in Philippine media, coupled with news that the US government is seeking to expand its military presence in the country and in the region.

As it was last year, the reported Chinese ‘bullying’ in the Spratlys is being met by the Philippine government’s efforts to bring into the region ‘the bigger bully,’ as Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño describes the trend.

This, despite the availability of another option that critics said would respect the Philippine sovereignty rather than trample on it, and evade further misunderstanding and confrontation in the region. This option revolves around bilateral and multilateral diplomatic initiatives and negotiations. But instead of pursuing this, the Aquino government has been playing tough against China under the shadow of the US military.

This is dangerous, said Rep. Casiño. He warned the Filipino public against the likely eventual mutually beneficial agreement between the US and China, “with us left out,” much like what the US and Spanish governments had done a century before following a mock battle in Manila Bay.

Wanted: a sovereign posture at foreign relations

There is a glaring need to upgrade the Philippine naval forces and its capability to defend against Chinese intrusions (or others’ intrusions for that matter), but why, peoples organizations asked, does the Aquino government’s “solution” hinge on provoking China and being mendicant to US?

“While we condemn China’s bullying tactics against the Philippines in relation to the disputed Spratly Islands and (while we) recognize the necessity to defend our just claims, there is greater danger in allowing an increased US military presence in our country in the hope of relying on US for help against China,” the progressive labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said in a statement.

Such danger becomes immediately apparent when the Chinese state media declared recently that China would punish the Philippines for allowing increased US military presence.

“We should brace for further misunderstanding in the region, all because the government chose to sell to the US instead of standing its ground and asserting its sovereignty in resolving the Spratlys issue,” Gabriela Women’s Partylist Rep. Emmi de Jesus said.

The Gabriela solon also said that an “assurance” that the US will not re-establish their bases in Philippine soil is something only government officials willing to be “hoodwinked” would swallow. “Only a puppet, mendicant President will believe this. We know very well that the Visiting Forces Agreement effectively expanded the areas where US military troops can operate and set up base,” said Rep. de Jesus.

US ‘deceptive’ about military basing in the Philippines

For 10 years now, even with an explicit Constitutional ban against foreign military bases, 600 US special operations forces have been stationed in Mindanao, southern island of the Philippines. Reports have placed US troops as participating directly and indirectly in different counter-insurgency operations. They have also been implicated in some cases of human rights violations, the most controversial of which were the rape cases of Nicole and Vanessa and the murder inside a US military facility in Mindanao of Filipino translator Gregan Cardeño.

US troops had been reported to be participating in sensitive domestic military operations against the perceived threats of the Philippine government such as the Bangsamoro rebel army, the communist rebels and groups such as the Abu Sayyaf.

Nancy Gadian, a former navy officer, revealed a few years ago that the US has established “bases” within camps of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). She revealed too how the US troops lord it over in those camps even among the Filipino soldiers, treating the Filipinos like “dogs.”.... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/02/03/progressives-slam-aquino%E2%80%99s-mendicancy-sell-out-to-us-imperial-interests/

Human rights groups 'Trojan horses of the West'



Human rights groups 'Trojan horses of the West'

The Libyan example proves to the world that so-called human rights organizations are really the Trojan horses of Western foreign policy, Middle East expert Sukant Chandan told RT from London.

­Doctors Without Borders recently suspended its mission in Misrata, saying it had to treat patients for injuries sustained during interrogation. Chandan believes that the so-called humans rights organizations like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders traditionally have a Western-centric tinge to everything they do..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/libya-human-rights-exposed-chandan-483/

Hacking off the Feds: Anonymous intercepts FBI conference call about…themselves (AUDIO)



Hacking off the Feds: Anonymous intercepts FBI conference call about…themselves (AUDIO)


In an audio recording made and posted online by the internet hacktivists Anonymous, a number of Federal agents both in the US and the UK can be heard discussing ways to apprehend members of the group.

In an ironic post, the hacktivists made the 20-minute long conversation available online, taunting the Federal Bureau of Investigations with the leak – and the fact that while the agents may only have half-formed plans to arrest Anonymous members, the group itself is making sure to stay one step ahead..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/anonymous-fbi-leaked-conversation-455/

US playing Internet monopoly

US playing Internet monopoly

The US is seeking to control the Internet, which is an instrumental of its foreign policy. Writer and political scientist Igor Panarin believes Syria and Russia have been picked as a testing ground for America’s media intervention doctrine.

­In the article below, professor Igor Panarin explains his view.­­­­

The mass unrest that destabilized a number of Mideast nations in the spring of 2011 was the first real-life demonstration of how powerful a tool the Internet can be in terms of influencing the internal affairs of a sovereign state. Social networks and blog platforms proved a highly efficient means for dispersing information and dispatching voluntary protesters in order to stage rallies and even riots. The American political elite was quick to recognize the new opportunity and employ it..... MORE
SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/politics/us-internet-facebook-panarin-319/

Farm workers to SC: ‘Junk Cojuangco-Aquinos’s plea, declare decision as final’

Farm workers to SC: ‘Junk Cojuangco-Aquinos’s plea, declare decision as final’


“The high court must act now and stop the decades-old exploitation of farm workers by the Cojuangco-Aquinos.” – Ambala

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Farm workers of the Hacienda Luisita urged the Supreme Court to declare with finality its November 22, 2011 decision ordering the distribution of 4,916 hectares of Hacienda Luisita land to the original 4,296 original farmworker beneficiaries (FWBs).

Through their counsel Jobert Pahilga, the farm workers opposed the motion filed by the Cojuangco-Aquinos last month seeking to increase the amount of compensation and to retain the option between owning stocks or land. In their motion, the Hacienda Luisita Inc. also wants to lift the ten-year prohibition on the sale of the awarded lands.

The Hacienda Luisita land owned by the family of President Benigno S. Aquino III has been placed under the stock distribution option in 1986 to evade land distribution. The Supreme Court decision in November 2011 removed the option to choose between stocks or land, saying that “control over agricultural lands must always be in the hands of the farmers.”

“The issues have already been raised by the HLI in its motion for reconsideration on the July 5, 2011 ruling of the high court. The high court resolved these issues in its Nov. 22 ruling. There is nothing new in their motion. The Cojuangco-Aquinos are only buying time, hoping for a miracle to happen,” Pahilga, executive director of Sentro Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra) told the media before the filing of their comment..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/01/31/farm-workers-to-sc-%E2%80%98junk-cojuangco-aquinos%E2%80%99s-plea-declare-decision-as-final%E2%80%99/

Fil-Am groups call on Aquino to stop deportation of 12,000 Filipinos in Mariana Islands

Fil-Am groups call on Aquino to stop deportation of 12,000 Filipinos in Mariana Islands


By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com
The National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) is calling on President Benigno Aquino III to assist more than 12,000 Filipinos who stand to be deported from the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) this year.

The CNMI is located in the western Pacific Ocean.Based on previous US census counts, Filipinos comprise almost 30 percent of all residents in the islands, surpassing even the total number of the native Chamorro people. There are an estimated 12,000 Filipino workers in CNMI who are now being threatened with deportation despite maintaining legal immigration status.

According to Nafcon spokesperson Rico Foz, most of Filipinos in CNMI were forced out of the Philippines 10 to 30 years ago because of the lack of jobs.

“They were critical in developing CNMI’s economy and it is now their home and the only home their children have known,” he said.

A Filipino worker in CNMI Maria Lourdes Berueco said many of them have lived in CMNI most of their lives and have families there.

“Many of us are anxious about returning to the Philippines because we don’t have anything or anyone to go back to anymore.”

The CNMI’s establishment as a US Commonwealth

In 1976, US President Gerald Ford signed into law the Covenant establishing CNMI as a US Commonwealth having its own constitution and government. As such, the CNMI government had exclusive control over its labor and immigration laws, allowing it to bring in contract guest workers through the enactment of the Nonresident Workers’ Act (NWA) in 1983.

CNMI’s efforts at economy building were centered on the development of a garment industry as well as tourism sector in the late 1980s and 1990s. The practice of recruiting overseas contract workers increased its population to nearly 40,000, with the newly immigrated workers becoming employed in all the growing industries..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/02/02/fil-am-groups-call-on-aquino-to-stop-deportation-of-12000-filipinos-in-mariana-islands/

CPP orders NPA to hunt down fugitive Palparan By Mario J. Mallari 02/04/2012

CPP orders NPA to hunt down fugitive Palparan

By Mario J. Mallari 02/04/2012

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has ordered its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), to hunt down fugitive retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan as it accused the Aquino administration of coddling the former Army official wanted for the disappearance of two University of the Philippines (UP) students in 2005.

In a statement, the CPP lambasted the Aquino administration for its failure to capture Palparan two months after an arrest warrant was issued against him by a Bulacan regional trial court for the kidnapping of UP students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan seven years ago. The two remained missing.

“In failing to put General Palparan behind bars, the Aquino regime is making a mockery of its own justice system. The longer General Palparan evades arrest, the more credulous are reports that he is being coddled by high-ranking military and police officers and supported by big bourgeois compradors who have benefited from his brutal suppression of the people’s democratic struggles,” the CPP said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120204met1.html

Palace’s FoI bill targets SC’s SALNs By Fernan J. Angeles 02/04/2012

Palace’s FoI bill targets SC’s SALNs

By Fernan J. Angeles 02/04/2012

President Aquino wants full public disclosure of the annual statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) of national officials, including the institution that his administration is battling against — the Supreme Court.

At a press briefing, Undersecretary Manolo Quezon of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) yesterday said one of the salient features of Malacañang’s version of the Freedom of Information Act of 2012 is the full disclosure of the SALns of all government officials.

Claiming that their version favors no one, he said national officials from the three branches of the government – Executive, Legislative and Judiciary — will have to publicly post their SALns in a government-designated Web site from where the public may see and scrutinize..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120204hed3.html

Erap: No need to transfer Gloria to regular jail By Pat C. Santos and Fernan J. Angeles 02/04/2012

Erap: No need to transfer Gloria to regular jail

By Pat C. Santos and Fernan J. Angeles 02/04/2012

Showing his compassion for hospital-detained former President and current Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo, her predecessor, former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada, whom she had charged and convicted for plunder on trumped-up charges, rejected calls for Arroyo to be transferred to a regular jail.

“I think she can continue to be held under hospital arrest. Not because she is a former president because I myself suffered from being incarcerated in a regular prison but because she is a woman. It’s not out of respect for a former president because no one is above the law but maybe we can afford some leniency because she is a woman,” Estrada said.

Estrada was imprisoned for charges of plunder after being ousted from the presidency for six and a half years. He was first held at Camp Crame, then in Sta. Rosa, before being moved to Veterans Hospital after three years of regular imprisonment, and only placed under house arrest during the last two years of his incarceration..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120204hed5.html

POEA approves total ban on OFWs to Iraq 02/04/2012

POEA approves total ban on OFWs to Iraq

02/04/2012
Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz announced yesterday that the Governing Board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), which she chairs, has approved a resolution imposing a total ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Iraq, except in the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

Aside from Secretary Baldoz, POEA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, Governing Board vice chairman, Leonardo de Ocampo and Guillermina Gabor, members also signed the resolution.

“The POEA Governing Board issued the resolution after the Office of the President has approved the recommendation of the Department of Foreign Affairs raising the Alert Level in Iraq from Alert Level 2 to Alert Level 3,” Baldoz said in a statement..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120204nat9.html

CBN Asia opens free hotline for OFWs in Hong kong 02/04/2012

CBN Asia opens free hotline for OFWs in Hong kong

02/04/2012
The overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong can now receive encouragement and guidance from Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) Asia Prayer Center in the Philippines through overseas calls free of charge.

The Prayer Center launches its “Hello Hong Kong” hotline for OFWs who need prayers, emotional support, and sound advice by calling (852) 317-54377. The hotline was made possible through Hong Kong-based VOIP service provider “Tawag Tipid.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120204nat7.html

Noy promotes DFA exec linked to ‘fund misuse’ By Fernan J. Angeles 02/04/2012

Noy promotes DFA exec linked to ‘fund misuse’

By Fernan J. Angeles 02/04/2012

President Aquino yesterday named Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos as the Philippines’ permanent representative to the World Trade Organization.

Aquino’s appointment of Conejos to the WTO position raises doubt on the administration’s government policy on “Daang Matuwid,” as the former DFA Undersecretary does not appear “clean” just like what Aquino would boast of his government structure..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120204nat10.html

DoJ eyes Mancao as witness vs Ping’s co-accused By Benjamin B. Pulta 02/04/2012

DoJ eyes Mancao as witness vs Ping’s co-accused

By Benjamin B. Pulta 02/04/2012

The Department of Justice (DoJ) is putting off dropping former police Senior Supt. Cezar Mancao II from the rolls of state witnesses.

DoJ prosecutors handling the case will now first appeal the recent ruling of the Manila regional trial court (RTC) junking their bid to discharge him as state witness in the Nov. 2000 killings of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

“We have until Monday to file a motion for reconsideration. We can say that the ruling of the RTC is not yet final, so we can’t decide yet on the issue of his exclusion from WPP (Witness Protection Program),” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima told reporters after meeting with the prosecution panel chaired by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Phillip Kimpo and Mancao’s lawyer Ferdinand Topacio..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120204met2.html

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