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On US Imperialism and a way forward for the Philippines

Saturday, January 28, 2012

On US Imperialism and a way forward for the Philippines



Full Interview with Prof. JOSE MARIA SISON
Founding Chairman, the Communist Party of the Philippines
Chief Political Consultant, National Democratic Front of the Philippines
Chairperson, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle
BY BILL FLETCHER, JR.

(Shorter version appears in AlterNet, January 22, 2012)
1. Most people in the USA know little about the Philippines, its history, and/or its relationship to the USA. What do you believe are the reasons for this ignorance?

Answer: The US mass media are most responsible for informing, disinforming or simply keeping the American people ignorant about a country like the Philippines. I presume that most people in the USA become most aware of a country when the mass media are blaring out a certain extended course of sensational events of great interest to the US officialdom and the ruling class.

I am sure that in the past there were times of long duration when the mass media called the attention of the American public to the Philippines, like when the US was justifying and carrying out its war of aggression against the Filipino people from 1899 onwards, when the Japanese fascists pushed the US out of the Philippines at the start of World War II and the US reconquered the Philippines in 1945 and when the US-propped Marcos fascist dictatorship was in the process of being overthrown.

When the extraordinary or sensational subsides, the mass media pay less attention to the country and do not say much about the protracted reality of US colonial rule in the Philippines in most of the first half of the 20th century or the US semi-colonial domination of the Philippines since 1946. The ruling system in the US does not allow the Americans who know the truth about of the Philippines to impart their knowledge to the public promptly, widely and sustainedly through the mass media or any other means.

2. Given what you are saying, do you think that the US media has consciously mischaracterized the situation in the Philippines by focusing on groups like Abu Sayyaf?

Answer: Yes, the US media drum up US policy and corporate interests and consciously misrepresent the Philippine situation, as in the focusing on the Abu Sayyaf . This small bandit gang, whose origin can be traced to the CIA and intelligence operatives of the Philippine army who organized and used it against the Moro revolutionaries (MNLF and then MILF), is magnified as an extension of Al Qaida in order to serve the false claim of Bush that the Philippines is the second front of a global war on terror as well as to rationalize state terrorism and US military intervention in the Philippines..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/01/25/on-us-imperialism-and-a-way-forward-for-the-philippines/

Russia rejects new draft resolution on Syria



Russia rejects new draft resolution on Syria

Russia has opposed the new Arab-European draft resolution on Syria presented by Morocco in the UN Security Council on Friday. Russia’s ambassador to the UN says it will continue to search for ways to end the ongoing bloodshed there.

As RT’s Marina Portnaya reports from New York, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, expressed “deep” disappointment with the draft, indicating that he does not believe that the international community should impose an outside solution on the Syrian conflict. He also rejected the idea of an arms embargo or the use of force being imposed on Syria..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/russia-rejects-resolution-syria-927/

US and Israel revive largest joint anti-missile drills

US and Israel revive largest joint anti-missile drills

 Israeli and American officials put plans for a massive missile drill mysteriously on this month, but now the exercise, originally slated for this spring, will be scheduled for October 2012.

The drill, which will also signal a surge of American troops to Israel by the thousands, will mark the biggest test of its type for both nations. As tensions worsen between the US and Iran — as well as Israel and its Islamic Republic neighbor — Tehran authorities fear that the exercise will try out more than just the missile capabilities of the allies. Also being put to the test is Iran’s patience..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/us-israel-missile-plans-889/

Freedom fears over Twitter’s by-country ‘censorship’

Freedom fears over Twitter’s by-country ‘censorship’

 Micro-blogging service Twitter has announced that it will filter tweets on a country-by-country basis due to differing legal demands. Critics were quick to accuse the company of attacking freedom of online speech to make extra profit.

Individual tweets can now be shown in some countries but blocked in others, the internet giant said in a blog post on Thursday. The goal is to comply with legislation under different jurisdictions, while not deleting offending content globally. Twitter offers the example of France and Germany, where public pro-Nazi statements are banned..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/twitter-censorship-individual-country-853/

Thousands wage war against ACTAck on Internet (w/ Video)



Thousands wage war against ACTAck on Internet

 Poland is facing a new day of protests against a copyright agreement signed by Warsaw on Thursday.
Opponents are staging demos and hacker attacks and say the ACTA treaty amounts to Internet censorship and gross violation of human rights.

Several thousand people have already gathered in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw and the crowd is growing, reports RT’s Aleksey Yaroshevsky, who is following the protest against ACTA.

In order to become law, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement must first be voted in by parliament. In a bid to stop this from happening, the hacktivist group Anonymous has targeted official websites in the countries that have already signed it..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/poland-acta-protest-anonymous-823/

Progressive labor belies DOLE’s ‘claim of ‘industrial peace’

Progressive labor belies DOLE’s ‘claim of ‘industrial peace’


Despite the difficulties posed to unions and workers’ organizations by the intensifying repression and contractualization, the total number of labor disputes recorded and “handled” by the labor department itself has continued to increase in 2011.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – In 2011, unionists who suffered imprisonment for having launched a strike faced the threat of being jailed again if they failed to raise money for their increased bail. In the same year, strikers from another company, from the Nestlé core factory in Asia, spent the year urging the Aquino government to press Nestlé to respect and implement the Supreme Court decisions affirming the workers’ reasons for having launched a strike since 2002. The then Arroyo government and Nestlé management had just reportedly converted the façade of the factory into a “military garrison” against the strikers. In 2011, too, several fatal accidents in workplaces revealed the dangerous combination of contractualization and lack of government regulation of occupational health and safety.

And then shortly before 2011 ended, the much publicized massive retrenchment in Philippine Airlines (PAL), denounced by affected employees as PAL’s way of replacing regular workers with contractual workers, was finally implemented. It was supported by the labor secretary and President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. As the Labor Secretary assumed jurisdiction over the labor dispute months before, the workers response was dismissed as a “wildcat strike” by the DOLE and PAL management. They had the workers bodily dragged off the airport premises and summarily laid off..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/01/27/progressive-labor-belies-dole%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98claim-of-%E2%80%98industrial-peace%E2%80%99/

Transport group calls for regulation, scrapping of VAT amid incessant oil price hikes


Transport group calls for regulation, scrapping of VAT amid incessant oil price hikes


“The government is doing nothing because the prices of oil are controlled by the Big 3.” — Piston member
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Edwin Bermeo, 55, driver of a FX, a public utility vehicle, complained about the incessant oil price hikes this month. The price of diesel has increased by P3.20 ($0.07) per liter. Oil companies hiked the prices of petroleum products four times since the start of the year.

Bermeo said his net income per day has shrunk to only P200 ($4.65), not enough to feed his six children. Like many drivers, Bermeo works for 14 to 16 hours per day.

“The government is doing nothing because the prices of oil are controlled by the Big 3,” Bermeo said in Filipino, referring to Caltex, Petron and Shell. “And there is the VAT [value added tax] which should have been added to our meager income.”

The government has imposed 12 percent VAT on prices of petroleum products. With the average price of diesel per liter at P54.04 ($1.26), according to Department of Energy’s oil price monitor, the VAT on oil amounts to P6.48 ($0.15) per liter. If VAT is removed, a driver could save up to P162 ($3.77) for 25 liters of diesel..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/01/26/transport-group-calls-for-regulation-scrapping-of-vat-amid-incessant-oil-price-hikes/

RP welcomes greater US military ties By Michaela P. del Callar 01/28/2012

RP welcomes greater US military ties

By Michaela P. del Callar 01/28/2012

The Philippines is open to increased US military presence and engagement in the country, in a move analysts said was directly aimed at trying to contain a rising China.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario yesterday said the Philippines was looking for more joint military exercises with the US, as well as having a greater number of American troops rotating through the Southeast Asian country but only if these conform to Philippine laws.

“It is to our definite advantage to be exploring how to maximize our treaty alliance with the United States in ways that would be mutually acceptable and beneficial,” Del Rosario said in a statement..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120128hed4.html

Enrile opposes GMA transfer to regular jail By Angie M. Rosales 01/28/2012

Enrile opposes GMA transfer to regular jail

By Angie M. Rosales 01/28/2012

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is opposed to the government’s idea of transferring detained former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo to a regular detention facility after she fully recovers from her current medical condition.

“Whatever you may say against her, we must treat her with a certain degree of civility and dignity, being a former president of the country. If she’s going to be convicted, then punish her. But before that, given the fact she has handled the country for nine years, we have to be very careful (in handling her case),” he said.

The Senate chief was reacting to reports on the motion filed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) seeking to transfer Arroyo from the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City where she is currently under hospital detention to a regular jail if a medical examination would show that she was already fit enough..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120128hed5.html

Palparan sighted in Bataan By Gina Peralta-Elorde and Fernan J. Angeles 01/28/2012

Palparan sighted in Bataan

By Gina Peralta-Elorde and Fernan J. Angeles 01/28/2012

Fugitive ex-military official Major Gen. Jovito Palparan was reportedly sighted in three towns in Bataan province, police intelligence report said.

As this developed, at least three police teams have been formed to track down the former Army officer who was reportedly sighted in Bagac, Morong and Abucay — all in Bataan province.

Bataan police director Senior Supt. Arnold Gunnacao said the reports have reached his office claiming that on Thursday he got a text message saying that Palparan was spotted near the Philippine Army’s 24th Infantry Battalion in Abucay, Bataan..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120128nat5.html

JPE sympathizes with Miriam’s emotional outbursts at impeach hearing By Angie M. Rosales 01/28/2012

JPE sympathizes with Miriam’s emotional outbursts at impeach hearing

By Angie M. Rosales 01/28/2012

For some, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s display of emotional outbursts during the last two consecutive impeachment proceedings may have already been too much.

But for Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, he could empathize with his colleague as she is known to be dealing with hypertension.

“All I can say is, we should be a bit understanding because she is suffering from some ailment. If you are in that condition, normally your threshold of stress is very shallow. All of a sudden, her blood pressure rises,” he said.
Yet, the upper chamber chief who is acting as presiding officer in the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, reminded senator-judges to remain composed and control their emotions during the proceedings..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120128nat3.html

DND bent on acquiring P70-B modern military hardware for Armed Forces By Mario J. Mallari 01/28/2012

DND bent on acquiring P70-B modern military hardware for Armed Forces

By Mario J. Mallari 01/28/2012

The Department of National Defense (DND) is bent on approving 138 projects to acquire modern military hardware as part of the capability upgrade and modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), amounting to about P70 billion, by July this year.

During the Defense Acquisition System kick off at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said while the task at hand is difficult to achieve, he urged those involved in the acquisition program to give their best to beat the deadline on the completion of the 138 projects.

“Our main responsibility is to ensure the approval and signature of the contracts for all the 138 projects for the AFP modernization and capability upgrade program not later than 31 July 2012,” Gazmin said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120128met5.html

Mayors agree to adopt single ticketing system for 17 LGUs By Pat C. Santos 01/28/2012

Mayors agree to adopt single ticketing system for 17 LGUs

By Pat C. Santos 01/28/2012

The Metro Manila Council (MMC), the policy-making body of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), yesterday approved a resolution adopting a uniform ticketing system for the 17 local government units (LGUs) of Metro Manila.

The resolution was approved following a presentation and dialog with Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo who pledged to present the single ticketing system for the approval of President Aquino. Representatives of transport groups such as the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers (Fejodap), Pangkalahatang Sanggunian Manila at Suburbs Drivers Association (Pasang Masda), Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) participated in the dialog.

Without the single ticketing system, each Metro Manila LGU and the MMDA use their respective traffic violation tickets within their jurisdictions. This runs counter to the 1995 MMDA Charter mandating the Agency to “install and administer a single ticketing system.”.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120128met1.html

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