• 6 AUGUST - *1907 - Gen. Macario Sakay, one of the Filipino military leaders who had continued fighting the imperialist United States invaders eight years into the Ph...
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Maximum US gains at the least cost via VFA

Wednesday, May 2, 2012


Maximum US gains at the least cost via VFA

Last April 18-19, invited by the Patriotiko Mindanao alliance, I joined the culminating activities in Zamboanga City of the 2012 Mindanao-wide anti-Balikatan protest billed as “People’s Caravan and Lakbayan against US Militarism and Plunder.”

It was an exhilarating experience for me for two reasons:

1. Aside from the senior activists I met at the first People’s Caravan in 2002 — when the first Balikatan joint US-RP military exercises began in the armed-conflict areas of Basilan and Zamboanga — most of the 2012 participants were young, politically-keen people. I had brief but highly-satisfying interactions with them..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/04/27/maximum-us-gains-at-the-least-cost-via-vfa/

Running to America again EDITORIAL 05/02/2012

Running to America again

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
05/02/2012
There went the Aquino government, running again to the United States and appealing for help to build a “minimum credible defense” amid an escalating territorial dispute with China.

Credible defense against giant China? There can never be any build up of credible defense on the Philippine side mainly because even if the country stacks up on military warfare, we can’t ever beat China and its military might, since China has been well-equipped militarily, land, sea and air for decades.

What then are Foreign Secretary Alberto del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin really asking from Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta in their talks in Washington?

Surely they know that even military surplus from the US government isn’t that easy to get — without the US getting something in return — and generally, the US takes more from the country than what it gives it..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120502com1.html

Ghraib mistake? US student drinks urine to survive prison abandonment

Ghraib mistake? US student drinks urine to survive prison abandonment


A San Diego college student was left in a cell for five days without food, water or access to a toilet by federal drug agents. He says he drank his own urine to stay alive, and even tried to etch a message to his mother in his own arm.

Twenty-four-year-old Daniel Chong says he was forgotten in a five-by-10-foot (1.6 x 2.3m) windowless cell after being arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration agents on April 21.

Daniel was questioned, and then the agents told him he could go home. One agent even offered him a ride, Chong told the media on Tuesday. No criminal charges were filed against him..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/student-urine-cell-us-386/

Chorus of criticism: Netanyahu’s politics puts Israel ‘in mortal danger’

Chorus of criticism: Netanyahu’s politics puts Israel ‘in mortal danger’


Former PM Ehud Olmert and the recently-resigned Kadima leader Tzipi Livni have joined the chorus of past and present senior Israeli politicians criticizing the government and its warmongering policy against Iran.
­Livni announced her resignation as leader of the centrist liberal Kadima party on Tuesday, saying in her speech that Netanyahu’s government is putting the existence of the Jewish state “in mortal danger” by ignoring growing international discontent.

“Israel is on a volcano, the international clock is ticking and you should not be the ‘chief of Shin Bet’ to understand that. The real danger is a politics that buries its head in the sand,” Livni said..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/israel-iran-netanyahu-politics-criticism-365/

Advocacy group for indigenous peoples pushes agenda for education

Advocacy group for indigenous peoples pushes agenda for education


Since 2009, militarization has caused the closure of schools and disruption of classes in the rural areas of Mindanao.
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com

The Rural Missionaries of the Philippines-Northern Mindanao Sub-Region (RMP-NMR) recently released a paper premised on the impact of military operations on campaigns for the education of indigenous peoples in the country. It said that in the last decade, the national government has done very little to improve the welfare of indigenous peoples particularly in Mindanao. In the meantime, military operations have also served to undermine the efforts of indigenous communities and people’s organizations to develop their own systems for improvement.

According to the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), there are between 14 million to 17 million Filipinos spread across 110 ethno-linguistic groups. Most of these ethnic groups are concentrated in Mindanao with 61 percent. Luzon has 33 percent of these indigenous people while the rest are in Visayas.
In a paper titled, “Education and Militarization of Indigenous Communities: Our Experience as Rural Missionaries in Mindanao”, RMP-NM’s subregional coordinator Sr. Ma. Famita Somogod dissected how the national government’s declarations to help indigenous peoples have not resulted in any concrete gains for the the latter.

The paper was presented to the “Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights and Advocacy” Training Program for the Indigenous Advocates in Asia-Pacific in Sabah, Malaysia held from April 23 to May 2 by Diplomacy Training Program (DTP), Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS), and the Center for Malaysian Indigenous Studies-University of Malaya (CMIS).

Somogod said that even as the government has identified education as its priority service, the indigenous peoples of Mindanao view it as a “vague illusion.” She said accredited schools supposedly established for indigenous peoples were built or established in areas far from the communities. Many residents are also unable to pay even the smallest fees, and some of the Lumad children spend their formative years in community alternative learning schools usually established with the aid of non-government organizations.
Rural Missionaries of the Philippines Northern Mindanao Sub-Region’s Minduyog Community Learning Center in Sitio Minduyog, Brgy. Lydia, Lapaz Agusan del Sur.(Contributed photo / bulatlat.com)
“Even in the rare situations where communities are benefited by a literacy and numeracy school, these are not sustained because of counter-insurgency operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Instead of protecting the communities from rebel groups, the communities have become the targets of the operations. Militarization and war have resulted to human rights violations, exacerbating the living conditions of the already impoverished indigenous communities, with indigenous children becoming most vulnerable,” she said..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/05/01/advocacy-group-for-indigenous-peoples-pushes-agenda-for-education/

Bulatlat Live: May 1 Labor Day

Bulatlat Live: May 1 Labor Day

Dubbed as “A Day of Reckoning,” this May 1 the Filipino working class is set to hold rallies in major urban centers nationwide. Workers’ groups are taking President Benigno “Noynoy” C. Aquino III to task for his government’s inaction on, or frustration of, the working people’s long-standing calls for living wages and decent jobs. They are protesting, too, the Aquino government’s hand in worsening the Filipinos’ hunger and poverty, and its exceeding even the previous government’s puppetry to the US..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/05/01/bulatlat-live-may-1-labor-day/

JPE’s ‘life lessons’ CROSSROADS Jonathan De la Cruz 05/02/2012

JPE’s ‘life lessons’

CROSSROADS
Jonathan De la Cruz
05/02/2012
To say that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE) is one of the most colorful leaders of his generation is to state the obvious. He has, in the eyes not only of his, but of the post-war generations after his and those of the current crop of aspiring ones, cast such a huge shadow which will probably have few equals in the nation’s history for years on end. But more than being colorful he has been one of the most “controversial” as he himself confessed when he addressed the graduating class of the UP College of Law a week ago. Indeed, he has, as the song goes, had led a life well lived and, if I may add, a charmed one as well.

Last April 23, for the first time in years, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile went back to the UP College of Law in what he noted was a journey of “fond recollections.” Although early on he had taken issue with some students of the college for coming out with what he derided as premature and unreliable “statistics” about the public’s “attitude” toward Chief Justice Renato Corona and the ongoing impeachment trial. He he advised he could not resist this opportunity of sharing life’s lessons with this “young batch of upcoming members of the bar from my Alma Mater.”.... MORE
SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120502com4.html

RP runs to US for help vs China By Michaela P. del Callar 05/02/2012

BUT UNCLE SAM WON’T TAKE SIDES

RP runs to US for help vs China

By Michaela P. del Callar 05/02/2012

The Aquino government, through its foreign and defense secretaries, sought the help of the United States government on the standoff with China on the issue of Scarborough Shoal, directly asking their American counterparts to provide the Philippines with a “minimum credible defense” against the escalating territorial dispute with China, with appeals for a stronger military assistance.

But the United States said it would not take sides in the tense standoff between the Philippines and China at a disputed South China Sea shoal but renewed its commitment to honor a defense treaty that binds Washington to back Manila militarily if it comes under attack.

The foreign and defense chiefs of the longtime allies held their first summit in Washington on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) and agreed to intensify military collaboration, including strengthening the Philippines’ maritime forces amid a dangerous three-week impasse between Chinese and Filipino ships at the Scarborough Shoal..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120502hea1.html

‘Insensitive’ Noy junks calls for legislated wage hike By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan and Charlie V. Manalo 05/02/2012

‘Insensitive’ Noy junks calls for legislated wage hike

By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan and Charlie V. Manalo 05/02/2012

President Aquino virtually admitted on Labor Day his administration’s helplessness in addressing the growing restlessness of the labor sector as he rejected proposals for a P125 across-the-board legislated wage hike despite the desperate pleas for a wage adjustment amid the rising costs of fuel and basic commodities.

Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño quickly branded Aquino as insensitive and ignorant after rejecting the call for a legislated P125 wage increase, saying the President’s position on matter clearly betrays his simplistic view on the wage hike issue.

In a text message, Casiño said that Aquino’s statement saying that if the P125 across the board wage increase is implemented, it would amount to P1.4 trillion in cash, a big chunk of the country’s gross domestic product, is a clear manifestation of the President’s ignorance of the economy’s equation..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20120502hea6.html

3 firms urge CA to lift Palace revocation of mining permits By Benjamin B. Pulta 05/02/2012

3 firms urge CA to lift Palace revocation of mining permits

By Benjamin B. Pulta 05/02/2012

Three local mining firms have asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to take a second look at its decision last month upholding Malacanang’s decision to revoke the mining permit granted to them and their Canadian partner.

The permit granted by the previous administration was for the conduct of a large-scale exploration, development and utilization of minerals in the municipalities of Rizal, Bataraz and Narra in Palawan.

In a 34-page motion for reconsideration, the Narra Nickel Mining and Development Corporation, Tesoro Mining and Development and McArthur Mining Inc. through their lawyer Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, also asked the appellate court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining the Office of the President (OP) from implementing the revocation order it issued on April 6, 2011..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120502nat4.html

House to probe relief of Batangas CIDG for extortion, kidnap By Charlie V. Manalo 05/02/2012

House to probe relief of Batangas CIDG for extortion, kidnap

By Charlie V. Manalo 05/02/2012

The House committee on dangerous drugs will summon Philippine National Police chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome to shed light on the controversy surrounding his order to relieve the entire Batangas Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) for alleged involvement in hulidap (arrest and extortion) and kidnapping activities.

In a text message, Lanao del Norte Cong. Vicente Belmonte, chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs said his panel will start their probe with the PNP chief.

“We will call the attention of the PNP and parties concerned as soon as Congress resumes session on May 7,” Belmonte said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20120502nat1.html

Isko Moreno formally takes oath as member of UNA party tomorrow at Club Filipino 05/02/2012

Isko Moreno formally takes oath as member of UNA party tomorrow at Club Filipino

05/02/2012
Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno (Francisco Domagoso in real life) will join the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), a coalition of former President Joseph Estrada’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) and Vice President Jejomar Binay’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).

Moreno, incumbent member of the Nacionalista Party headed by Sen. Manny Villar, will officially take his oath as member of UNA at 9 a.m. tomorrow (May 3) at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile will administer the oath-taking.

Moreno’s joining UNA was aired by Estrada last Monday night on national television..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120502met5.html

Decades-old CCTVs at NAIA Customs area incur ire of BoC chief 05/02/2012

Decades-old CCTVs at NAIA Customs area incur ire of BoC chief

05/02/2012
The old closed circuit television (CCTV) system which the Bureau of Customs (BoC) had been using for almost two decades at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport I arrival area will soon be a thing of the past.

“Our CCTV at the airport is obviously outdated and obsolete. Our agency has already requested the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for its replacement,” Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon said..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20120502met2.html

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