The Philippines’ New Strongman (tags)
Rodrigo Duterte’s authoritarian neoliberalism isn’t the answer to poverty and political abuse in the Philippines.
Walden Bello: Sanders as US President good for US, Philippines, and Asia (tags)
MANILA - “Bernie Sanders would be good not only for the United States but for the Philippines and Asia,” Walden Bello told the US media after he chatted briefly with the candidate for Democratic Party presidential nomination in Waterloo, Iowa on Sunday, 13 December 2015.
AQUINO'S "DAANG MATUWID" (tags)
Poem critical of neocolonial slogan "Daang Matuwid" of the Aquino regime guilty of numerous extrajudicial killings, the latest of which are Lumad popular figures.
Philippine President Aquino no longer deserves any support from workers and trade unions (tags)
THE workers and the trade unions throughout the world mark today the International Labor Day – 125th anniversary globally and 112th celebration here in the Philippines. This historic and revered day has been an enduring and stirring symbol for the working class despite serious setbacks caused by multipronged and systematic neoliberal attacks against the workers, the masses and their organizations, which have seriously threatened to dilute if not totally wipe out the hard-fought sociopolitical gains achieved by the labor movement in the past hundred years or so.
Philippine Women's Group Gabriela blast President Aquino (tags)
A WOMEN’S group on Thursday criticized President Benigno Aquino III for comparing her mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, to Gabriela Silang, the first Filipino woman revolutionary leader.
Capture of Philippine fugitive general Jovito Palparan hailed as victory for Aquino (tags)
Philippine security forces yesterday captured a fugitive former army general wanted over the kidnapping of two students, fulfilling a promise by President Benigno Aquino to bring high-profile criminal suspects to justice.
The State of Reform in the Philippines (tags)
Akbayan on Aquino’s 5th State of the Nation Address
Philippine President told: Re-energize the campaign for reforms (tags)
Philippines: As President Benigno Simeon Aquino III prepares to deliver his 5th State of the Nation Address (SONA), Akbayan Party-list urged him to "re-energize the campaign for reforms" by carrying out "deeper and broader institutional changes" in his last two years in office.
Philippine agrarian reform: Powerful law, ineffectual bureaucracy (tags)
When the original CARP program that was passed under President Corazon Aquino was in danger of unraveling, the peasant movement came together and pushed the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms, or CARPER, through Congress in 2009.
Philippines: Freedom from Corruption and Plunder on Independence Day (tags)
On Independence Day, we call upon all Filipinos to take a stand and take back what is rightfully ours.
Time to act with urgency and determination to improve the lives of Filipino workers (tags)
Philippines: As the country observes the International Labor Day, Akbayan Party would like to draw attention to the inability of the current economic growth to translate into an improvement in the lives of ordinary workers from both the urban centers and the countryside. While the Aquino administration takes pride on the 7.2 % growth rate for 2013, it cannot mask the fact that this growth has been insufficient to curb massive unemployment and poverty.
Philippines: Inclusive growth under Aquino no longer possible (tags)
WITH only two years left in his term as he now enters his fourth year in office, President Aquino could now be described as either unwilling or unable to make the country’s much-hyped economic growth inclusive.
Filipino Farmers to Aquino: Make Land Reform a Development Priority (tags)
Philippines, March 2014 -- With less than four months remaining before the upcoming “death” of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)’s land distribution component on June 30 2014, 300 farmers from the Save Agrarian Reform Alliance (SARA) today trooped to Malacanang, calling for a drastic acceleration and overhaul of the implementation of the land reform effort.
Joining Forces for Education's statement on Aquino resignation (tags)
Joining Forces for Education's statement on using Broad's Jaime Aquino's resignation to push for authentic reforms
Four hundred thousand join people’s march in the Philippines (tags)
Akbayan (Citizens Action Party) congratulates Luneta marchers, describes event as “Filipino Habagat (Monsoon)” vs. corruption
Pork barrel scam scandalizes the Philippines (tags)
Five senators who were linked to the scam are the following: Ramon Revilla, Jr. – P 1.017 billion, Juan Ponce Enrile – P 641.65 million, Jinggoy Estrada – P 585 million, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. – P 100 million, Gregorio Honasan – P 15 million
Philippine Partylist Akbayan to President Aquino: Abolish the pork (tags)
Akbayan Party today called on President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to immediately and without conditions abolish the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) following the shocking revelations in the recent COA audit on the heels of the P 10 Billion Napoles-pork barrel scam. The progressive-coalition partner of Aquino said that the pork barrel is "incompatible with the President's reform agenda."
WOMEN POLITICAL PRISONERS TORTURED IN PHILIPPINES (tags)
Women political prisoners in the Philippines experience torture under the neocolonial regime receiving US tax dollars in aid. We need to protest this barbarity and call on Congress to cut off aid to the Aquino regime and its brutal military and police agencies.
On Philippine President Aquino's Midterm Year (tags)
Deeper reforms needed to curb inequality
Filipino workers challenge to Aquino (tags)
Three years ago, President Aquino promised to substantially reduce poverty, create quality and secure jobs, and end the reign of impunity, among others. He promised “inclusive growth”. Workers have had enough of these broken promises.
Five-point approach to manage Chinese and US presence in the West Philippine Sea (tags)
Akbayan Partylist today proposed to the Aquino government a "five-point approach" in handling the current territorial dispute with China and the increasing involvement of the United States in the conflict.
Philippines: 25,000 Workers March to Mendiola on Labor Day (tags)
Chiding President Aquino’s pronouncement that Labor Day should be celebratory with both labor and capitalists greeting each other for “doing a good job” for the past year, workers renewed the call for government to create “not just jobs” but “more regular jobs with living wage.”
Wheels of justice in the Philippines must turn quickly and judiciously on Burgos case (tags)
Akbayan Partylist today called on President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to "shake the military establishment" and "weed out the corrupt, murderers and traitors" among its ranks. The partylist group made the call after the Court of Appeals' decision to hold elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) accountable for the enforced disappearance of Jonas Burgos in 2007.
International Women's Day in the Philippines (tags)
Women groups hail ‘triple wins,’ but warn of complacency
Akbayan takes poll campaign to Filipino-Americans (tags)
LOS ANGELES—Akbayan’s Rep. Walden Bello began a campaign tour of Filipino American communities to raise support for his party and President Benigno Aquino III’s common reform agenda in the coming May elections.
Philippines: Where does the FOI campaign go from here? (tags)
Today, we close our people’s campaign for the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill in the 15th Congress. We have, to the extent that our capacities and limited resources permitted, exhausted all avenues that we thought were open to us to get positive, decisive action from the leaders of the House of Representatives and from President Aquino no less.
US minesweeper USS Guardian damaged Philippine Reef (tags)
APL dares Philippine President Aquino to penalize US Navy for Tubbataha damage
Philippine Statements on the International Human Rights Day (tags)
1) Akbayan on the Observance of the International Human Rights Day 2) Workers hold Jericho March at San Miguel in celebration of human rights day 3) Pahayag sa Pandaigdigang Araw ng Karapatang Pantao 4) Another World is Possible! Reject the Policies of Neoliberalism! Protect the Working Class!
On the Israeli-Gaza Conflict (tags)
Manila, Philippines - Akbayan Party strongly and categorically condemns the Israeli armed forces’ (navy and air force) constant bombardment and shelling, numbering above 100, of the Gaza strip, hosting more than 1.7 million people in one of the most densely-populated areas in the world. Despite its claims of engaging in surgical operations against militant and ‘terrorist’ elements within Gaza, Israel’s air raids and naval shelling have contributed to rising casualties among civilians, including journalists and children, caught in the firing line.
PHILIPPINES: On the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement (tags)
The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) joins the Filipino people, especially the Bangsamoros in Mindanao, in welcoming, although guardedly, the historic signing today of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro between the Philippine government (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Cybercrime Prevention Law of the Philippines (tags)
As the country commemorates the 40th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law, the nation remembers the dark era of the dictatorship and honors the memory of those who fought to restore democracy. However, while the days of military rule are long gone, vestiges of its legacy have found its way to the present times. A case in point is the recently passed Cybercrime Prevention Law.
The Marcos’ Legacy of Fraudulent and Illegitimate Debts (tags)
AS THE NATION remembers today the declaration of Martial Law and the imposition of the Marcos fascist dictatorship 40 years ago — we recall not only the crimes and abuses, but the valiant struggles of our people to end the tyrannical regime.
CIA/FBI Film-faker and Famous Church of Satan Agents Exposed (tags)
CIA/FBI Film-faker and Famous Church of Satan Agents Exposed in Mind Control Black-Op to Neutralize "Dissidents"
ALLIANCE PHILIPPINES CONDEMNS GMA RELEASE ON BAIL (tags)
“Above the Fray” Like Pontius Pilate, PH President Aquino III washed his hand as the court let former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo filed her bail and was set free from her detention at the Veterans Memorial Hospital. In this scenario, Alliance Philippines (AJLPP), West Coast Coordinator Arturo Garcia... vehemently condemned this latest charade and travesty of justice. Garcia said that:“ The Alliance, the Filipino American community and all freedom loving people of the United States, detest and must expose this newest political “moro-moro “ of the Aquino III.” Garcia elucidated “ Aquino III actions seems to show that he is above the fray but in reality he tolerates and in cahoots with the schemes against the people.
PHILIPPINES: Much has been won; much still to be fought for (tags)
Akbayan on President Aquino’s 3rd State of the Nation Address
CPP joins Filipino women in marking International Women's Day with protests (tags)
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today expressed support and solidarity with the Filipino women in marking the 98th anniversary of International Women’s Day with mass protests against oil price increases and intensifying American military intervention.
Philippines: Promotion of Morong 43 jailer enrages victims, rights groups (tags)
MANILA – The recent promotion of Major General Jorge Segovia, former commander of the 2nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army that carried out the illegal arrest of 43 health workers in February 2010, has outraged human rights groups.
NDF PRAISES MILF FOR STAND VS USARIII SHAM PEACE TALKS (tags)
The Alliance News today learned that o March 29, 2012: During the 43rd Anniversary of the New People’s Army (NPA), the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) had praised the leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and its peace panel for their steadfastness in asserting the right to self-determination of the Moros in the face of consistent plot of the Philippine government to hoodwink them to capitulating.
Philippine Labor party calls for removal of VAT on oil to reduce prices (tags)
One day after the transport protest against the unabated increases in oil prices, the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called on the administration of President Benigno Aquino III to remove the VAT on oil products as an immediate measure to reduce prices.
Filipino Militant groups commemorate Bonifacio Day with mass protest (tags)
MANILA, Philippines—Various militant groups from the labor sector commemorated the 148th birth anniversary of Philippine national hero and revolutionary Andres Bonifacio Wednesday with mass protest action at the historic Don Chino Roces (formerly Mendiola) Bridge.
Philippines: PLM Rejects Neoliberal Policies of the Government (tags)
PLM Campaigns for a Welfare State System
PHILIPPINES: SC Reversal on Hacienda Luisita, A Triumph of CARPER, Agrarian Justice (tags)
We in Akbayan Party welcome the Supreme Court's reversal of its previous ruling on the Hacienda Luisita case. It is a great victory not only for the beneficiaries but also for every Filipino farmer. Now it is crystal clear, land distribution is the sole, genuine avenue of agrarian reform. Likewise, this decision affirms the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program- Extension with Reforms (CARPER) - farmers must own the lands they till and it is the onus of government to guarantee it.
Philippines: No state burial for Marcos is step toward justice (tags)
Akbayan Party lauded President Aquino’s declaration that the administration will not accord a state burial for the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, saying that this is a positive step toward the issuance of justice and rectification of Marcos’ atrocities during the Martial Law.
Philippines: PALEA holds motorcade on the 30th day of its protest vs. outsourcing (tags)
Also in commemoration of PALEA’s 30th day of protest against contractualization, solidarity actions were held in San Francisco and Los Angeles by US unions and the Filipino-American community. In San Francisco, the groups picketed the Philippine consulate and PAL ticketing office, and submitted a letter of concern to Deputy Consul General Alfonso Ver.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Deal with disasters, not blame the masses (tags)
The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) based in the United States wrote to your newspaper to vehemently condemn the criminal neglect and the breast thumping of the Aquino III?s NDRRMC , the agency and its head, Benito Ramos. The NDRRMC is the agency who is task to mitigate disasters and warn the people of the impending disasters and conduct relief work such as the fury of the Thypoon Pedring and Quiel that hit the Philippines and devastated most of Northern and Central Luzon. Very poor Response And yet with no less than President Benigno C. Aquino in attendance during their televised briefing, there was nothing new on the typhoons and floodings that hit the country recently. Pedring has passed and another storm came in and had passed but still the waters released by the dams still has flooded the whole Metro Manila and Central Luzon.
Double-talk on FOI: Philippine gov?t long on promises, short on political will (tags)
On President Aquino?s Open Governance Partnership (OGP) ON 20 SEPTEMBER 2011 in New York, President Benigno S. Aquino III will deliver the keynote address at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) forum dubbed ?The Power of Open: A Global Discussion?. The conference brings together governments and representatives of civil society, industry, academe, and media. The panels will discuss the role of openness in improving government responsiveness and accountability, fighting corruption, and creating efficiencies, innovation and growth.
Jose Maria Sison: On the Commemoration of Sept 21. (tags)
More than a year before, he had staged the dress rehearsal for the declaration of martial law by proclaiming the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus on August 21, 1971 when without evidence he blamed the Communist Party of the Philippines and Benigno S. Aquino for the Plaza Miranda bombing immediately after it happened.
BINATIKOS ANG PAHAYAG NI AQUINO III (tags)
-Ayon sa grupong tagapamalita ng ALLIANCE NEWS na nakabase sa Los Angeles, Ipinahayag ngayon ng rebolusyonaryong kilusan sa Pilipinas na pawang kasinungalingan at panakip-butas ang laman ng talumpati ni Benigno Aquino III sa pagbubukas ng reaksyunaryong kongreso noong Hulyo 25. Pilit niyang pinalalabas na gumaganda na ang kalagayan ng bansa at patuloy ang mga pagbabago. Tinangka niyang ibalik ang tiwala ng mamamayan sa reaksyunaryong gubyerno. Pero sa desperasyon niyang takpan ang katotohanan, lalo lamang niyang ihiniwalay ang kanyang rehimen sa mamamayan. Dinagdagan lamang ni Aquino ang kawalan ng tiwala at pag-asa ng bayan sa naghaharing sistema.
AQUINO III, MURAD OF MILF HELD TALKS IN TOKYO FOR TWO HOURS (tags)
The Alliance News (AN) learned today through media reports from Manila that President Benigno Aquino III left the country unannounced on Thursday night to hold unprecedented talks with a Muslim rebel leader in Japan. According to AN, Mr. Aquino met for two hours with Murad Ebrahim, chair of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), in a hotel near the Narita airport in Tokyo on Thursday evening, the first time a Philippine president has met face-to-face with a leader of the rebel group since on-and-off peace talks started 14 years ago. The MILF called Mr. Aquino?s effort a ?grand gesture? that gave ?a tremendous boost to the peace process.? Ghadzali Jaafar, the MILF political affairs chief, said it was ?a fruitful meeting.?
THE ECONOMIC-POLITICAL SITUATION OF THE CORDILLERAS (tags)
A YEAR after the US-Aquino2 regime took power, the miserable situation in the Ilocos-Cordillera region mirrors the dismal state of the nation. From the impoverished tobacco and palay farmers in the Ilocos provinces to the indigenous people plowing hybrid corn fields, vegetable gardens and rice terraces in the Cordillera, the empty promises of the Aquino regime are reflected in the continuing violations and betrayal of the people?s right to land, livelihood and resources. The real boss of the Aquino administration turns out to be not the Filipino people, but US Imperialism as it furiously expands its economic interests as well as large scale corporate mines and geothermal and hydroelectric power projects in Northern Luzon and rams down the nation?s throat its Oplan Bayanihan (OPB), the so-called internal peace and security plan. It is these that exacerbate and continue to heighten the national oppression that reached ethnocidal proportion being suffered by indigenous people of the Cordillera and the Filipino people in general. Indeed, Aquino?s Daang Matuwid turns out to be no different from the substandard Halsema Highway with its erosions and slides, close-open status and serving mainly foreign interests in extracting super profits from the region?s resources. Oplan Bayanihan: Furthering the National Oppression of the Indigenous People Despite it?s deceptive psy-war features, Oplan Bayanihan (OPB) is fast showing up it?s true vicious character compared to its failed predecessor, Oplan Bantay Laya 1 & 2 of the unheralded and despicable US-Arroyo regime. The 5th IDPA and the NOLCOM of the AFP have overzealously applied its age-old imperialist master?s tactics of ?divide and rule? by exploiting indigenous social, economic and political systems in its counter-insurgency operations. They target not only combatants but more so innocent civilians including minors and the elderly. Coining nice sounding contraption to hide the harshness and vileness of Oplan Bayanihan does not succeed in erasing the notoriety of the AFP as armed units of the ruling class. Changing its notorious ?Reengineered Special Operations Teams? to ?Peace and Development Operations Teams?does not do the desired trick. It succeeds though in sowing intrigues and beclouding clear provisions of peace pact pagta where armed units (AFP/PNP and/or NPA) are not covered. Operating troops continue to quarter in schools, day-care centers, barangay halls and clinics, private homes and other public and sacred places contrary to clear provisions of CARHRIHL and Protocols of the Geneva Conventions. In many cases, families are broken up as a result of soldiers? womanizing. Young female students are also vulnerable to abuses especially where detachments are near schools. In one case, the whole tribesmen of a young lass have to be mobilized to demand accountability of the soldier?s tribes mate when a married soldier impregnated a young first year college student. Also drunken soldiers always spark troubles with youngsters even at the flimsiest of reasons.
PHILIPPINES: Absent major policy reforms, there will be no social transformation (tags)
President Aquino?s communication advisers said the President?s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) will focus more on ?social transformation?. What would that mean in real sense, however, largely depend on how Filipinos would view their lives today and in the immediate future. And for the Filipino masses who have been used to hearing nice words from their leaders, this new buzzword assumes no meaning at all unless accompanied by major policy reforms.
Akbayan and the Struggle for a New Philippines (tags)
(Speech at the Gene Viernes and Silme Domingo Awards Event, Seattle University, Seattle, Washington State, July 2, 2011.)
Lintang Bidol Expose? A game of "smoke and mirrors." (tags)
The Bantay Pilipinas-LA view the revelations and the surfacing of COMELEC Maguindanao Chief Lintang Bidol on the presidential elections of 2004 and the Senatorial elections of 2007 as another game old game of smoke and mirrors. Bantay -USA leader Austin Baul said; ?there is nothing new and everybody knows what Lintang Bidol is saying. What is wrong with his revelations is very glaring. There are no evidences or proofs and as the COMELEC Chair said, it is focused on the 2007 elections.?
PHILIPPINES: The Rough and Rugged Road toward Change (tags)
Akbayan Party?s Statement on the First Year of the Aquino Government
Akbayan to PNoy: leave lasting legacy, finish agrarian reform (tags)
Three days before the commemoration of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform law (CARL), advocates who campaigned for the extension and improvement of the law banded together to call on President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to finish the just distribution of all agricultural lands.
PHILIPPINES: Employers win again: P22 COLA too little, too late (tags)
?If the objective is to increase the capacity of workers and their families to weather economic woes, an increase of P22 a day at this point is simply too little, too late,? Akbayan Representative Walden Bello said on Tuesday morning following the announcement of a P22-increase in minimum wage earners? cost of living allowance (COLA).
Thousands of militant workers march for higher pay in the Philippines (tags)
Manila, Philippines - Thousands of workers led by the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) and its allied organizations converged in key cities on Labor Day to reiterate their demand for better wages, improved economy, jobs, security of tenure for workers and an end to demolition of squatter shanties.
18th World Water Day: Uphold right to water, Philippine Pres. Aquino told (tags)
MANILA, Philippines – Disappointed with the muddled position of the current administration in recognizing one of the most basic human rights, around 200 members of the Freedom from Debt Coalition took to the streets Tuesday urging President Benigno S. Aquino III to step up and uphold the human right to water.
Filipino Workers criticize shortcomings of EDSA 1 (tags)
The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and the anti-contractualization coalition KONTRA slammed the shortcomings of EDSA 1 in a symbolic mass action this afternoon. Scores of workers from PM and KONTRA assembled at the Ninoy Aquino monument at the corner of Timog and Quezon Avenues at around 5:30 pm.
PHILIPPINES: Marcos' legacy cannot be rehabilitated (tags)
Akbayan Youth on the 25th Anniversary of EDSA and the Marcos burial issue
Appointment of Ronald Llamas as Philippine Presidential Adviser for Political Affair (tags)
Akbayan Youth, the Movement for the Advancement of Student Power (MASP), and the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines (SCAP) welcome President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino’s (PNoy) appointment of Akbayan Party President Ronald Llamas as Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs. This appointment proves the president’s commitment to a pluralist government open to progressive politics.
2011: Another bleak year for the workers in the Philippines (tags)
2011: Another bleak year for the workers, militant labor leaders lamented in a breakfast forum
MILF Hits Stalled Peace Talks with GRP (tags)
The US based EPCC NEWS learned today from Cotabato City that a senior official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has expressed his doubt about the resumption of peace talks with the government by January in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, even as he has called for the release of all MILF members in prison. In in a statement issued Sunday to media sources in the Philippines said that MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal doubted whether that would happen. “Without a facilitator, how would the talks resume? The government's continued character assassination of the Malaysian facilitator is not doing any good to the peace process,” he said.
Will Peace Break out in the Philippines? (tags)
Will peace break out at last? Much hope has been sparked by the coming resumption of peace talks between the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the Aquino government. Undoubtedly, this optimism stems from the widespread public perception that President Benigno Aquino III is genuinely interested in ending the four-decade-long war between the NDF and the Philippine government.
Hinggil sa Desisyon ng Korte Supremang Corona laban sa Pangkating Aquino pabor sa pangkat (tags)
Ipinahayag ngayon ng Alliance-Philippines o AJLPP nakabase sa Amerika na ang nakaraang desisyong Korte Supremang Corona na pinili ni GMA na nagbasura sa bisa ng Truth Commission na nilikha ng pangkating Aquino III ay patunay na pinaglalaruan lamang ng kasalukuyang rehimeng Aquino III at ng nakaraang pasistang rehimeng GMA ang masang Pilipino. Sinabi din ng AJLPP na tiyak na gagawing katwiran ng rehimeng Aquino III na “ hindi niya kayang usigin si GMA’ dahil sa utos ito ng batas” at kunwang susunod na batas.Isang tunay na moro-moro at sarswelang dinerekta ng amo niyang Imperyalismong US. Makasaysayang ang araw na ito ng Disyembre 7 dahil ito ay pataksil na salakay ng Hapon laban sa Amerika noong Disyembre 7, 1941 sa Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Kahalintulad ito ng atake ng Korte Suprema ni Corona sa masang Pilipino.
‘Free the 43’ FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS! (tags)
resident Benigno Aquino III is concerned over the detention for the past 15 years of Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, a democracy icon like his late mother, former President Corazon C. Aquino. Last Oct. 28, while attending the Asean Summit in Hanoi, he urged Burma’s Prime Minister Thein Sein to free Suu Kyi, but predictably, the latter made no clear commitment. But while Mr. Aquino seems to be passionate in working for the release of Suu Kyi, he does not seem to be very concerned about the detention for the past nine months by government forces of 43 health workers, the so-called “Morong 43.” Last Oct. 14 Mr. Aquino said the case of the 43 detainees would have to be decided by the court that is trying them for illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
NDFP-GRP RESUMES PEACE TALKS AFTER 24 YEARS (tags)
The Alliance Philippines (AJLPP) based in the United States expressed elation over the supposed resumption of peace negotiations between the NDFP and the GRP. The Alliance-Philippines is happy that after 24 years and four different sets of government from Aquino to Arroyo negotiating panels, the 3-month-old Aquino administration Thursday signaled its readiness to talk peace with communist rebels, hoping that a political settlement of the 41-year-old insurgency will finally be forged under its watch.
Prof. Jose Maria Sison: On the Commemoration of September 21 (tags)
PHILIPPINES: Ferdinand Marcos himself designated September 21, 1972 as the date for Presidential Proclamation 1081, declaring martial law. In previous days, he had set in motion the imposition of fascist dictatorship on the people, including the mobilization of his armed minions, the murder of a whistle blower in his own intelligence agency, the fake ambush on his defense secretary and the mass arrest of his opponents and critics.
NDF-MINDANAO CALLS ON ALL REVOLUTIONARY FORCES TO FRUSTRATE OBL COMPLETELY (tags)
The PESANTE BULETIN gathered today that NDF -Mindanao spokeman Jorge madlos said that "the extension of the Arroyo regime’s brutal nine-year anti-insurgency campaign Oplan Bantay Laya exposes Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s real “peace” plan. Aquino's plan the NDF says is to step up military offensives against the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) - daydreaming of inducing revolutionary forces to capitulate and to impose its demands on the peace talks consistent with the US Counter Insurgency (COIN) strategy." The NDF also said that He (Aquino III) appears to be in a hurry to please his US imperialist masters, especially in laying the ground for the entry and the increase in profitability of mining companies and foreign-owned plantations such as Xtrata in South Cotabato and Dole Phils. in Surigao del Sur and Compostela Valley, and a host of other foreign monopoly capitalist investments. The NDF Mindanao also said that AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Ricardo David Jr., in his declaration of a new counter-insurgency plan by Jan 1, 2011, bragged that the new strategy would focus on the respect for human rights, admitting in effect that nine years of OBL were replete with human rights violations.
By continuing Oplan Bantay Laya, Aquino shows he is no different from Arroyo (tags)
The PESANTE BULETIN based in Los Angeles gathered that the National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today assailed the announcement of the Armed Forces of the Philippines on extending its Oplan Bantay Laya campaign until January 2011 as proving that Benigno Aquino III is no different from his predecessor. From the news sources in the Philippines, PESANTE BULETIN also learned that While the world commemorates International Humanitarian Law Month today, the AFP will be continuing its campaign that has led to many killings of social activists and other civilians," said NDF-EV spokesperson Fr. Santiago Salas.
The NDF reaffirms its commitment to the MILF and the Bangsamoro struggle for genuine self- (tags)
The PESANTE NEWS learned today through news sources from Mindanao that the National Democratic Front - Mindanao (NDF-Mindanao) shares with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in raising concern with regard to the capability and sincerity of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), presently under Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, in undertaking peace negotiations as a venue to address the just demands of the Bangsamoro. The NDF spokesperson Jorge Madlos said " GRP would have the Moro as well as the Filipino people believe that credible talks under a favorable atmosphere for peace with the MILF would promptly resume after the Holy Ramadan, but all indicators point otherwise.
AFP Launches the biggest military offensive in the Philippines (tags)
"When they (the reactionaries) speak of peace, they wage war." The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) based in the United States expressed its utmost concern about the intention of the newly installed US-Aquino Regime as the AFP launched its biggest general offensive in Mindanao. The AJLPP learned that Jorge Madlos of the NDF-Mindanao said; " All the four divisions under the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) based in Mindanao are currently conducting massive and widespread military operations against the revolutionary forces in all the five NPA regions in the whole island, particularly more intense in the Southern Mindanao Region."
NDF Response to military propaganda for surrender before peace talks (tags)
THE PESANTE NEWS based in Los Angeles learned today that the National Democratic Front-Eastern Visayas today ( August 5 in the Philippines or PST) said that the 8th Infantry Division, by calling for the surrender of the revolutionary forces, highlighted the unjustness of the ceasefire-and-surrender line of the Aquino administration. "Through its program in a radio station last August 1, the 8th ID essentially dismissed the peace talks as irrelevant and called on the revolutionary forces to surrender first," said NDF-EV spokesperson Fr. Santiago Salas.
Senator Joker Arroyo: Truth commission is doomed to fail (tags)
The EPCC NEWS learned that the planned truth commission to be set by by President Aquino III is doomed to fail because it is without a legal leg to stand on. Opposition Sen. Joker Arroyo said Wednesday. EPCC News said that Joker Arroyo, a lawyer, warned President Benigno Aquino III that creating a truth commission through an executive order would be futile because it would suffer from a legal infirmity
PHILIPPINES: Keeping an eye on Aquino’s commitment to change (tags)
MANILA - The new administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III begins with an extremely high trust rating of 88 percent – higher than any of the post-dictatorship presidents. This is a measure of people’s belief in the commitment of the Aquino administration to reverse the anti-poor policies implemented during the regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
NDF/MILF READY FOR THE TALKS WITH GRP IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
The EPCC NEWS based in Los Angeles learned today from media source in Manila Philippines that the main Philippines rebel groups said on Tuesday they were willing to resume peace talks after an offer from President Benigno Aquino III, but ending insurgencies that have hobbled development remains far from certain.
Aquino III Talks Peace but is close to Talks (tags)
The EPCC NEWS reported today that former Bayan Muna representative and defeated NP guest candidate for senator Satur Ocampo said “ President Benigno Aquino III's spiel on peace talks with the National Democratic Front in his State of the Nation Address practically closed the door on their immediate resumption. Ocampo also said that while Aquino was more positive about pursuing peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MNLF), he set preconditions for talks with the NDF, Ocampo said in Bacolod City on Monday.
ISULONG ANG TUNAY AT MAKABULUHANG PAGBABAGO! TAMA NA ANG PANGAKO AT PORMA! (tags)
Sisisihin ang nakaraan, mangako para sa kinabukasan. Ito ang laman ng unang talumpati sa SONA ng bagong pangulo Noynoy Aquino III sa sambayanan noong Hulyo 26 saharap ng burgis na Kongreso. Nangako itong papawiin ang korupsyon para mapaglingkuran ang bayan. Isinisi nito ang kawalan ng pera sa nakaraang rehimen at nangakong uusigin ito. Sinalubong ito ng palakpak ng mga nasa Kongreso. Tignan natin kung magkakatotoo ang mga pangako.
COMFORT WOMEN CHARGES PHILIPPINE SUPREME COURT PLAGIARIZED DECiSION (tags)
The EPCC NEWS learned that the lawyers of Filipino women who claimed to have been made sex slaves by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II have accused the Supreme Court of plagiarism in dismissing demands for compensation and apology from Japan. Harry Roque and Romel Bagares said the decision in Vinuya vs Executive Secretary lifted without attribution articles from the Yale Law Journal and the Western Reserve Journal of International Law and a portion of a book by the Cambridge University Press.
PESANTE-USA CONDEMNS EXTRA JUDICIALS KILLINGS UNDER P-NOY REGIME (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante-USA), a human rights, environmental and a peasant advocacy group based in Los Angeles condemns the latest rounds of extra-judicial killings under the new Aquino III regime. At the the same time, Pesante -USA supports Anakpawis Party-list Representative Rafael Mariano call to President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to make a “decisive action” against the military in connection to the killing of a peasant leader in Nueva Ecija. Pesante learned that seventy-eight-year old Pascual Guevarra was shot dead by a lone gunman on Friday.Guevarra was head of the local Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association and the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid na Nagkakaisa.
BANTAY Points Out ‘Conflict of interest’ in the Aquino III Cabinet (tags)
The BANTAY PILIPINAS based California said today that President Benigno Aquino lll’s decision to pick executives from big business for key Cabinet posts has placed his administration in potential conflict-of-interest situations, particularly in state-regulated enterprises, such as power, water, telecommunications and toll roads, the EPCC noted Tuesday. The BANTAY PILIPINAS said the big business appointments were a growing public concern because they were identified with four of the most influential business conglomerates in the country – the Ayala, Lopez, Aboitiz and Metro Pacific groups – to positions with powers to make or unmake business empires. The appointees mentioned were Transportation Secretary Jose de Jesus, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson and Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras. De Jesus used to be president of Meralco (where the Lopez group and Manuel V. Pangilinan of Metro Pacific are controlling partners) and former executive vice president of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (headed by Pangilinan). Singson is a former president of Lopez-owned Maynilad Water and former director of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Almendras is a former president of Manila Water and Cebu Holdings Inc. (both owned by the Ayala group) and former treasurer of the Aboitiz group.
Sri Lanka Crushing of the Tigers, A Lesson for Noynoy Aquino III? (tags)
If the Aquino administration is to deliver on its promise to crush the decades-long insurgencies in the Philippines by 2013, it might be worthwhile to study Sri Lanka’s success in defeating terrorism. On July 3, newly appointed military Chief of Staff Ricardo David Jr. said the Aquino government hopes to crush the communist New People’s Army and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front by 2013. Three years may appear overly ambitious given the experience of former President Gloria Arroyo in 2006, when her government vowed—but failed—to end the twin insurgencies before her term ended on June 30.
Benigno S. "Noynoy" Aquino III: The new face of counterrevolution (tags)
The PESANTE BULETIN learned today through the ANG BAYAN, the official newsletter of the revolutionary movement in the Philippines published in the internet that last July 7, 2010 said that " Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III is the new face of counterrevolution. Formally installed on June 30 as the new head of the puppet reactionary government. He is now the main advocate of US imperialist rule and that of the local big comprador bourgeoisie, bureaucrat capitalists and landlords. On his shoulders rests the main responsibility of continuing the administration of the bankrupt semicolonial and semifeudal system, consolidating and running its state and suppressing any challenge to puppet reactionary power." The revolutionary newspaper also said that :' Just as US imperialism and the local ruling classes expected of him, Aquino focused his first few days on consolidating the puppet army. Aquino is well aware that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is the main pillar of reactionary rule in the Philippines.
Philippine Situation After the 2010 Elections (tags)
We are here today because Benigno Aquino III was elected president of the Philippines. He has promised to bring CHANGE to the Philippine government, eliminate corruption, fix the education system, improve health care, improve the economy and provide housing for all Filipinos. He has said that he is the president because the people believed in HOPE. Does this sound familiar? The Reality of the history in the Islands: Economic Crisis The Reality of the Philippines is that the islands are still ruled by US imperialism, and run by its Filipino puppets. Aquino has assembled an economic team from the same breed of pro-imperialist pro neoliberlization economists who have dominated economic policy-making in the Philippines for the past three decades. Some of whom have even served the US arroyo regime.
MAS MASAKIT ANG AMBA KAYSA BIGWAS” Ni NOYNOY AQUINO SA MASANG PILIPINO (tags)
Mukhang mas masakit ang amba ng Rehimeng US-Aquino III kaysa aktwal na hambalos nito sa sambayanan. Hindi pa man nakakabangon ang masa sa mariing parusa ng nakaraang siyam na taon ng rehimeng US-Arroyo, eto na naman ang bagong rehimeng Aquino II na naghahanda ng panibagong atake sa sambayanan. Kitang kita sa pagpili nito ng mga tao sa military na naghahanda ito ng mabagsik at panibagong opensiba laban sa masang Pilipino. Paano ba, ang bagong hirang na hepe ng AFP na si General David na galling sa NOLCOM ay nagbabanta agad na “wawasakin ang NPA sa loob ng tatlong taon.”
PHILIPPINES: Unions urge Noynoy to prioritize ‘full employment,’ (tags)
Unions urge Noynoy to prioritize ‘full employment,’ not to renege on his ‘people’s mandate’
Philippine Airlines workers stage protests against Labor Department (tags)
PAL union rallies anew at DOLE, appeals “midnight decision”
Philippine President Aquino's inauguration (tags)
THERE IS A REASON to celebrate the inauguration of President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino -- we have finally dumped the most corrupt and most hated regime since the fall of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986. GMA didn't deserve the President's farewell granted her. She should have been ousted years ago. Nevertheless, Aquino’s victory rightfully belongs to the Filipino people who voted against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her minions.
Philippines: The meaning of the `Noynoy’ Aquino presidency (tags)
On June 9 Senator Benigno Aquino III (“Noynoy” Aquino) of the Liberal Party, the son of former President Cory Aqunio, was proclaimed president by the Philippines Congress. Noynoy was a former senator “with little legislative record to speak of”, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper, which nevertheless campaigned hard for Noynoy Aquino’s presidency, soon after Cory Aquino’s death in August 2009.
Philippine President-elect Aquino dared to reverse mom’s neo-liberal policies (tags)
MANILA, Philippines — Akbayan party-list Representative Walden Bello on Tuesday dared President-elect Benigno Aquino III to reverse his mother’s neo-liberal policies that he said have killed Philippine agriculture and industry.
THE TALES OF TWO FAMILIES; PAKISTAN AND THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
It is interesting to study the tale of two political families in Asia. One in Pakistan. The other is the Philippines. The present president of Pakistan is the husband of martyr president Benazir Bhutto- Asif Ali Zardani while in the Philippines, the upcoming president is the son of the former president, Benigno Simeon Aquino III.
On the Coming Benigno S. Aquino III Presidency of the Philippines (tags)
On the Coming Benigno S. Aquino III Presidency of the Philippines. Senator Benigno S. Aquino III was proclaimed as the 15th president of the Republic of the Philippines yesterday, June 9, 2010 by the Philippine Congress. There has been a lot of optimism about the assumption to power by Noynoy Aquino. But still dangers looms on the horizon for President Arroyo is still around in Congress. Within the first 100 days, if Noynoy would fail to fulfill any important promise and the crisis in the country would continue to worsen, the broad masses of the Filipino people would hate the Aquino III regime and Noynoy himself for being a traitor and deceiver of the people.
HINGGIL SA PAPASOK NA REHIMENG AQUINO (tags)
Nanalo si Noynoy Aquino dahil sa bago maghalalan siya ang pinili ng mga imperyalistang Amerikano at mga lokal na naghaharing uri ng malalaking komprador at asendero na maging bagong pangulo ng naghaharing sistema. Sa kabila ng pagkukunwaring umaasa siya sa piso-piso mula sa karaniwang mga tao, sa kanya idinagsa ng malalaking negosyanteng dayuhan at Pilipino ang kanilang suporta sa kampanya. Sa kalaunan ng kampanya, hinigitan ni Noynoy si Manny Villar sa paglikom at paggamit ng pera para sa iba't ibang tipo ng propaganda. Sinuportahan si Noynoy ng malaking mass media. Tuso sa propaganda ang mga alalay niya. Para mapagtakpan ang kasalatan niya sa track-record at kakayahan, pinatingkad ng kanyang media handlers ang palagay na siya ay malinis na tagapagmana ng tatay at nanay niya at ang pagbatikos sa korapsyon ng rehimeng Arroyo. Kaugnay nito, sa pariralang Villaroyo, tumalab ang hambalos ng kampong Noynoy na ahente ni Arroyo si Villar dahil hindi siya umaatake kay Arroyo. May mga palatandaan din na sa automated electoral system ng Smartmatic, na kontrolado ng US at mga ahente nila, may naganap na preprogramming para panaluhin sina Aquino at Binay. Halatang kinabigan ng napakalaking boto sina Manny Villar at Loren Legarda. Overkill at di kapanipaniwala ang biglang pagbagsak nila. May mga ulat na matataas na kinatawan ng CIA, pamilya ni Aquino at rehimeng Arroyo ang nagpasya sa pre-programming anim na linggo bago araw ng halalan. Ang pag-uusap nina Pinky Aquino-Abellada at Ginang Arroyo ang nagbigay daan sa ganitong areglo.
Fearless Forecast: A Shaky Aquino Presidency Seen in the Philippines (tags)
Despite the election of Benigno Aquino III as the presumptive president of the Philippines, the political scene in the Philippines for the next six years is far from being an orderly and a stable nation. While Aquino got the executive post, the legislative and the judicial positions including the Supreme Court are his problems as well as the control of regional, provincial and mayoral positions that are in the control of his perceived enemies. In Congress, at the house of representatives, LP bet for Speaker , Quezon City Mayor Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte is confident of becoming Speaker. He said that he would get the support of not only some 30 Lakas “originals” but also of party-list, Nacionalista Party (NP) and Nationalist People’s Coalition contingents in the House. The LP has only 37 elected members.Belmonte said he had even talked to the NP president, Sen. Manuel Villar,
RP ELECTIONS, ATUOMATED BUT STILL ROTTEN TO THE CORE (tags)
The PESANTE NEWS LEARNED today that the Philippine revolutionary movement issued a statement today, May 23, 2010. Here it is: "The recently concluded reactionary elections, seemingly "modernized" with automation, was as rotten to the core as ever. The return to power of the Aquino-Cojuangco clan and its Kamag-anak Inc., through apparent president-elect Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III; the repositioning of the Marcoses--Imelda, Ferdinand Jr. and Imee; the continuing domination of Congress by the Arroyos, now with Gloria Arroyo herself elected congressman; and many more of the like all point to the indictment of the recent reactionary elections as nothing but a big sham foisted by the reactionary ruling classes upon the masses.
Analysis of the RP 2010 Electiion by Prof. Jose Ma. Sison (tags)
The conduct of the 2010 elections shows the rottenness of the US-dominated ruling system of big compradors and landlords. It was a process dominated by the coalitions, parties and candidates of the reactionary ruling classes. Beforehand, it excluded the leaders of the working people who were repressed or who were without campaign funds. It was merely a personality-based contest of the political agents of the same exploiting classes. They did not offer any strong differences in terms of program. They mouthed slogans against poverty and corruption and the need for change. But they said nothing about overcoming the three monsters of foreign monopoly capitalism, domestic feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism which exploit, impoverish and oppress the people. They gave no serious attention to the worsening crisis of the domestic ruling system and the world capitalist system.
US Envoy Meets Aquino , Vows To Cooperate with new RP leader (tags)
The United States has virtually acknowledged Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino as the country’s new President after its top envoy to Manila met with the presidential frontrunner yesterday. During the meeting, US Ambassador Harry Thomas conveyed to Aquino Washington’s satisfaction over the generally smooth conduct of the Philippines’ first-ever automated polls last May 10 where the Liberal Party candidate emerged as the apparent winner in the presidential race.
Panimulang Analisis sa Nakaraang Eleksyon (tags)
Tapos na eleksyon sa Pilipinas at nagsalita na ang taumbayan! Sa lakas ng agos ng sintimyentong anti-GMA ang mga hidhid na alipures ni GMA tulad nina Gonzales,Ermita, Esperon, Devanadera, Bolante, Atienza ay hindi binoto ng masa. Sa Isabela, balik pwesto si Grace Padac na tinalo ni Bodjie Dy ng dinatiyang Dy ng Isabela at si Among Ed ay tinalo ng kilalang hweteng queen ng Pampanga na si Lilia Pineda, kumare ni GMA. Nakakalungkot din na ang mga Marcos ay balik-pwesto dahil sumakay sila sa agos na anti-GMA. Maging si Erap na nag-anti-GMA ay sumegunda pa kay Aquino. Ngunit ang mahigit na limang milyong lamang ni Aquino ay napakahirap ng dayain kahit nang COMELEC. Malayong-malayo sa pagdaya ni GMA kay FPJ noong 2004.
RP ELECTIONS; A MIX BAG OF TROUBLES (tags)
Senator Noynoy Aquino humbly said he will wait for his proclamation by congress before he accepts that he is the "president elect". This is contrary to some media wags who call him the "president apparent", a concoction of some media drunk persons. According to the 12:00 PM COMELEC report with 81 % of the votes counted, Aquino and Binay are leading in the count . Aquino has 13 million votes while Binay is leading Roxas by more than 850,000 votes. But Binay's votes is being continually being chipped down by Roxas.
RP Elections Update, May 2010 (tags)
With eleven days to the election day in the Philippines, the campaign heats up to the finish in the United States. - In Los Angeles, the BANTAY PILIPINAS, an election watch dog for the Philippines, held a forum debate last April 21 in Kapistahan Grill in Historic Filipinotown attended by spokespersons of the candidates. The debate was very civil but was heated. More than a hundred people attended the forum. The Villar camp was represented by Bobby Reyes, Teodoro by muralist Eliseo Art Silva, Eddie Villanueva by union leader Jay Valencia and Linda Cross, Aquino by Atty. Terry Herrera and Binay by Errol Santos. The moderators for the event was Austin Baul and Cheryl Zarate ably assisted by Cory Esguerra, Cilla Esguerra, Emily Chan and Wendy Natividad.
Philippines' Election Campaign Ignores Real issues (tags)
BANTAY PILIPINAS PRESIDENTIAL FORUM IN KAPISTAHAN GRILL IN LA, APRIL 21 (tags)
The EPCC NEWS received a media advisory dated April 12 from a non-partisan group election watch dog called BANTAY PILIPINAS that they will be holding a presidential candidates from on April 21 at 7;00 PM in Los Angeles. The election debate among spokespersons of presidential candidates will be held at Kapistahan Grill, 1925 W. Temple St. Los Angeles in the heart of Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles. According to Jerry Esguerra, BANTAY PILIPINAS convenor , the groups that signified to come are the Aquino-Roxas groups represented by Manny Lopez, , the Villar Camp by Eric Villar and Bobby Reyes,, the Teodoro Group by Eliseo Art Silva and Eddie Villanueva by Jay Valencia.
RP Elections Update, May 2010 (tags)
As the Battle of surveys continues in the Philippines, all the camps of the current presidential candidates redoubled their efforts as the 4o days count down to the elections comes winding. Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas is still leading the surveys and seems to pull away as the Villar connection to President Arroyo became more evident with the latest defections from LAKAS-KAMPI.
PGMA Appoints Her Man-Lt.Gen. Delfin (tags)
The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) greeted with scorn and disgust the designation of President Gloria M. Arroyo of Gen. Delfin Bangit, a former spy master called the “emperor,” as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced to reporters Monday the appointment of Bangit, who headed the Presidential Security Group (PSG) during three coup attempts against her administration.
2010 Philippine Election Campaign Heats Up in the US (tags)
Supporters of different presidential candidates stepped up their campaign of support for their respective presidential candidates in the United States as the formal campaign period started in the Philippines on March 7. -- In Southern California, Villar supporters led by the Pimentel group known as TROPANG VILLAR are also held their fundraiser in Duarte, California last Friday, March 5. They were supported by Filipino and American realtors and relatives of Villar in the Los Angeles area. They were heartened by the latest news that Villar is on a statistical tie with Aquino according to latest survey results.
Worse than a crime – The electoral politics of the NDF and the CPP in the Philippines (tags)
The year 2010 has begun and we already know what’s going to be the most unlikely election coalition of the year. The legal National-Democratic (ND) movement of the Philippines, politically aligned with the underground Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines, has made an alliance with multimillionaire Manuel ‘Manny’ Bamba Villar Jr. and indirectly with Marcos’ admiring son, Ferdinand ’Bongbong’ Marcos jr.
Cory Aquino and GMA; Similar scorecards (tags)
(The EPCC NEWS decided to reprint the editorial of the Inquirer in Manila to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the EDSA People's Uprising) On the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution, it might be useful to review the records of the two beneficiaries of Edsa 1 and Edsa 2: the late President Corazon C. Aquino and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. We will then see if the nation has attained some progress in the past 24 years.
Labanan sa Umpisa ng Kampanya sa Eleksyong Presidensyal 2010,Tumitindi. (tags)
Ayon sa mga pinakahuling balita, tabla ang labanang Villar-Aquino sa mga survey. Ayon naman sa isang political analyst sa internet na si Doy Cinco higit na mainit ito sa Metro Manila. Malamang na magiging battle ground ni Noynoy Aquino-Mar Roxas at Villar-Loren ang Kamaynilaan at kung sino ang lalamang, may malaking epekto sa pambansang resulta ng halalan sa kabuuan. “ Ayon kay Cinco, “ Sa kabuuang 50.0 milyong rehistradong botante sa bansa, may 15% nito o mahigit anim (6) na milyon ay matatagpuan sa Kalakhang Manila, Sa anim na milyon botante, kulang sa kalahati (2.8 milyon) ay matatagpuan sa Quezon City (1.2 milyon), Manila (1.0 milyon) at Caloocan (0.7 milyon). Ang Kalakhang Manila ay kinukunsidirang sentrong pampulitika, pang-ekonomya, panlipunan at pangkultura ng Pilipinas. Siya ang pinakamatao, pinaka-konsentrado at pinakamasikip na lugar sa buong bansa
PHILIPPINES: Palace happy Villar is not hitting Arroyo (tags)
MANILA, Philippines—The rumored “hidden candidate” of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) got a boost Tuesday from Malacañang.
LABANANG AQUINO-VILLAR, UMIINIT (tags)
Umiinit ang labanan sa pagkapangulo ng Pilpinas. Ito ay ayon sa mga mampulitikang observers ng PESANTE NEWS sa Maynila at sa Los Angeles. Bumaba naman mula ikalawa pwesto tungo sa ikatlo si brother Eddie na sumegunda kay Gibo Teodoro noong nakaraang Disyembre 2009. Ngayon si Noynoy naman ang naguguna sa facebook. Patunay lamang na ang labanan ay umiinit na rin kahit na sa internet.
FIL-AM CAMPAIGN FOR 2010 CAMPAIGN HEATS UP IN THE US (tags)
With barely two weeks to the official Philippine presidential campaign for May 2010 elections in mid-January 2010, the Filipino-American campaign intramurals heats up in the United States. The latest group to form up was the NoyMar ( For Aquino-Roxas Liberal party). It was composed of NAFFAA stalwarts Loida Nicolas Lewis of New York and the Macabenta-Rodis tandem in San Francisco. The group promised to raised $ 2 million for the campaign kitty of two Philippine landlord-millionaires-Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas of the Araneta clan.
TIME’s homage to ‘Saint of Democracy’ is an Insult to Filipinos (tags)
“ it is not only disgusting, it was also very insulting” The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA decried today the TIME magazine homage to the late former President Corazon Aquino . The US bourgeois magazine said: “Long before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the revolutions that transformed Central and Eastern Europe, Corazon Aquino led the People Power revolution, which toppled the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos,” US Sen. Richard Lugar wrote in a comment published by Time.
THE NOYNOY AQUINO CANDIDACY AND THE HACIENDA LUISITA MASSACRE OF 2004 (tags)
The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) expresses its militant solidarity the Filipino peasants specially those of the Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac owned by the Aquino family in commemorating the fifth anniversary of the massacre that happened in November 16, 2004 where 14 peasants were killed by brutal fascists troops. The Hacienda Luisita case has became prominent again with the candidacy of the son of the owner, former President Cory Aquino, now, Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. to the presidency of the land. In 1985, Cory Aquino ran against Marcos and promised she will be the exact opposite of Marcos but did poorly to fulfill her promise. She just brought back the trappings of democracy like the bourgeois congress and elections but kept her hacienda and exempted it under her fake land reform program in 1988. Doing the same, Noynoy, the scion of the Aquino clan claims” they only own 4% of the corporation” and lets another fellow landlord, Mar Roxas of the Araneta-Roxas clan to speak for him on this landmark land case.
Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino for the next Philippine President (tags)
An administration that shall not enter into any compromises with Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA), her family and her cronies. A government that shall commit to reverse the political and economic damages wrought by the Arroyo administration. A political leadership that shall use its authority and shall exercise political will to introduce basic reforms that would restore our faith in our own capacity to lead decent and honorable lives.
PESANTE BACKS HLI FARMERS AGAINST DISPLACEMENT (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (PESANTE)-USA support Hacienda Luisita farmers in their dispute as Cojuangco family's deadline for them to cultivate the lands,. Pesante is solidly behind the United Luisita Workers' Union (Ulwu) and Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) who are beefing up its forces as they anticipate displacement measures of the Hacienda Luisita, Inc.
GIVE BACK HACIENDA LUISITA TO THE FILIPINO FARMERS! (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network(PESANTE)-USA stands solidly with peasant organizations in the Philippines in their call: GIVE BACK THE HACIENDA LUISITA to the farmers! Pesante supports the call of former KMP chair PAeng Mariano . Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano said that Senator Noynoy Aquino’s statement that they will give up Hacienda Luisita is just ruse to further evade his duty to give the land to the farmers. He said the Aquino-Cojuangco family could just convert the estate into other uses (such as the Luisita Mall and the Luisita Industrial Park) to raise money and pay its debts, which do not comply with their obligations under the agrarian reform program. “For generations, the Cojuangcos have benefited greatly from the Hacienda and labor of the farmers. It’s time they give it away, selling it or converting it will only aggravate the problems,” said Mariano.
Carson Filipino-American Community Honored Cory Aquino, Sept. 9. (tags)
The 40th day of the death of Philippine president Cory Aquino was commemorated with a memorial mass in St. Philomena Parish in Carson city in Los Angeles county last September 9, 2009 The memorial mass led by the parish community of St. Philomena Church at 21900 S. Main St. Los Angeles, CA 90745. More than 250 people attended the memorial mass celebrated by Fr. Thomas Asia, Filipino associate pastor at St. Philomena Church.
Landlordism in the Philippines :Hacienda Luisita as large as Makati and Pasig Cities combi (tags)
Pesante NEws reported today through a special report to the Inquirer Daily in the Philippines on a research that Hacienda Luisita is a 6,000-hectare property in Tarlac straddling Tarlac City and the towns of Concepcion and La Paz. It is as large as the cities of Makati (2,986 hectares) and Pasig (3,100 hectares) combined. Hacienda Luisita was originally part of the landholdings of the Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas, or Tabacalera. The estate was named after Luisa, wife of Don Antonio Lopez, who headed Tabacalera when it acquired the estate in 1882. It is now owned by the Aquino Family. Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino is running for president this coming elections.
Lest We Forget: The Martyrs of Martial Law in the Philippines (tags)
The Kilusang Dekada 70 (KD70) commemorates the 26th death anniversary and the assassination of Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr on August 21, 1983. Aquino’s martyrdom gains special significance today, August 21 because of two reasons: First, the assassination was not solved though everybody knows who is the mastermind and second because of the rampant abuse of power and corruption under the present US-Arroyo administration. Senator Aquino even during the days before martial law opposed the abuse of power under the US-Marcos dictatorship regime that does not respect democratic rights and treats itself as above the law. His martyrdom gains special significance today as we fight the US- Arroyo regime with a track record of abusing power and dispensing public funds without any concern for accountability.
FILIPINO -AMERICANS HOLDS MEMORIAL MASSES/PRAYERS FOR PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT CORY (tags)
The Filipino American community held prayer meetings and memorial masses for President Cory Aquino on August 4 and 6 in Los Angeles. On Thursday, August 6, the memorial mass was held at the St.Columban Filipino Church in Historic Filipinotwn Los Angeles. It was led by the Echo Park Community Coalition. Veterans of the anti-martial law movement in the United States and in the Philippines were present at the mass. Fr, john Brannnigan, a friend of the Aquino family and Fr, Frisco Entines, a veteran rights advocate officiated the mass. The solemn mass songs in Filipino was sung by the Parish Generation Choir.
The Filipino American community in the United States and the Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) in Los Angeles is united with our compatriots in our motherland in their grief and their celebration of the life the 11th President of our republic, Mrs. Corazon “Tita Cory” Aquino. Today, as the Filipino people sends off Mrs. Aquino to her grave and pays their last respects, her spirit of resistance against tyrannty continues. Mrs. Aquino, a simple housewife, was reluctantly thrust into the center-stage of history with the assassination of her husband, Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. in August 21, 1983.
FILAM COMMUNITY HOLDS MEMORIAL MASS FOR PRESIDENT CORY AQUINO, AUG 6 (tags)
The Filipino American community led by the Parish Community of St. Columban Church will hold a memorial mass for President Cory Aquino on the feast of transfiguration on Thursday, 7:00PM - August 6, 2009 at the St. Columban Filipino Church at 125 S. Loma Drive, Los Angeles, CA, 90026 in Historic Filipinotown. The endorsing organizations for the memorial mass are the Bangon Pilipino,Bangon Pilipinas, Confederation of Filipino American Organizations (CONFAA)-Carson, Council of Fil-Am Leaders of Southern California, Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC), Filipino American Community of Los Angeles (FACLA), Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV), Parish Generation Choir of St. Columban and Search to Involve the Pilipino Americans (SIPA).
Mrs. Corazon C, Aquino, 76-11th President of the Philippines (tags)
The Filipino American community in the United States and the Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) in Los Angeles is united with our compatriots in our motherland in their grief and their celebration of the life the 11th President of our republic, Mrs. Corazon “Tita Cory” Aquino. Mrs. Aquino, a simple housewife, was reluctantly thrust into the center-stage of history with the assassination of her husband, Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. in August 21, 1983 and made her mark as an opposition leader and then as a president of the Republic after the dictator was deposed in a people’s power uprising in 1986. Before that, for three significant years, from 1980-83 the Filipino American community was lucky enough to have the Aquino family in exile in Boston, in the east coast until Senator Aquino decided to come home to his martyrdom at the hands of the much hated dictatorship. Then rest is history.
PARDON OF AQUINO KILLERS-AN ACT OF A VENGEFUL REGIME (tags)
Makati Mayor and United Opposition (UNO) president Jejomar Binay yesterday described Mrs. Arroyo’s grant of pardon to the soldiers convicted of killing former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino as an act of “petty vindictiveness.” “Pinersonal na ni Mrs. Arroyo si Presidente Cory,” Binay said. “Just to spite former President Aquino, Mrs. Arroyo has committed an injustice to the memory of Ninoy, the Aquino family and to the people,” he said.
AJLPP DISPUTES ARROYO'S STAND ON EDSA UPRISING (tags)
The Alliance-Philippines disputes President Arroyo;s assertions that there should not be anymore EDSA. Referring to the People’s Revolt against dictator Marcos in 1986, Arroyo abhorred another EDSA after she herself was propelled into power by another EDSA in 2001 againt former President Joseph Estrada
LACSON BOYS TO BE FREED BY US COURTS (tags)
The AJLPP learned today that a Federal Appeals court on Friday vacated the sentence of a former Philippine National Police officer imprisoned for possessing secret US documents. Michael Ray Aquino is serving a six-year, four-month sentence after pleading guilty to unauthorized possession of classified documents.The new ruling in US District Court concluded that the sentence was based on a mistaken interpretation of federal guidelines. "For the AJLPP the news of the release proves that the charade of injustice is ever present when it comes to the cabal of AFP men who served as worst human rights violator and proven puppets of the United Statesmilitary like the Lacson boys," AJLPP said.
LACSON BOYS TO BE FREED BY US COURTS (tags)
The AJLPP learned today that a Federal Appeals court on Friday vacated the sentence of a former Philippine National Police officer imprisoned for possessing secret US documents. Michael Ray Aquino is serving a six-year, four-month sentence after pleading guilty to unauthorized possession of classified documents.The new ruling in US District Court concluded that the sentence was based on a mistaken interpretation of federal guidelines. "For the AJLPP the news of the release proves that the charade of injustice is ever present when it comes to the cabal of AFP men who served as worst human rights violator and proven puppets of the United Statesmilitary like the Lacson boys," AJLPP said.
CORY SEEKS ESTRADA'S FORGIVENESS FOR EDSA 2 (tags)
For the first time since the coup d’etat of 2001, former President Corazon Aquino, during the book launching of ousted Speaker Jose de Venecia (JdV), yesterday publicly apologized to former President Joseph Estrada for her role in the elite-led Edsa ll revolt which saw the toppling of Estrada and his government.
The Aquino Assasination, August 21, 1983, 25 years Later (tags)
Twenty-five years ago today, August 21, 1983, the armed minions of the US-Marcos dictatorship shot and killed Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. after arresting him inside the plane that took him home from his exile in the United States. Many articles have been written and will be written singing paeans to the late opposition leader and extolling him to high heavens but without understanding the reasons he went back to face his death in the Philippines.
SGSI Commander Manuel Aquino, 91 (tags)
Commander Manny Aquino, past president of the Filipino World War II veterans group –the Society of Guerillas and Scouts International (SGSI) based in Los Angeles passed away last August 5, 2008. He was 91 years old. Cmdr. Manny Aquino was a World War II Bataan veteran and fought under the USAFFE. He was also a survivor of the infamous Death March and later a guerilla. He served under the Philippine Army and fought under PEFTOK during the Korean War from 1950-1954. He later joined the Philippine Navy until he retired from military service while in the Philippines. Cmdr. Aquino succeeded Cmdr. Isidro Bathan and held the post of SGI commander until he was relieved by Cmdr. Jack Vergara in December 16, 2006. He was an active member of the army reserve and its honor guard. He was born on August 13, 1917 in the Philippines and lived in Carson.
The First Quarter Storm Network (FQSN) on the 24th Year of the Aquino Assassination, Augus (tags)
“ Different times, different tunes, Different crowds, different songs.” This situation characterized the twenty fourth-year commemoration of the martyrdom of former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr, today August 21, 2007. On August 21, 1983, Benigno Aquino Jr. was murdered by the armed forces of the US-Marcos Dictatorship right after being arrested inside the jet plane that brought him back to the Philippines.
The Significance of Two August 21st Incidents in Philippine History (tags)
Like the rising number of political killings, the August 21, 1983 Aquino assassination remains unsolved. Despite the court findings which sent several military men involved in Aquino’s murder to jail, the people still believe that the real masterminds are still scot-free, and are still in the limelight, and are enjoying their loot in their unperturbed ostentatious style. As we join our voice with all of those who work for a just and lasting peace and fight for justice, the FQSN-USA remembers these historical incidents to remind the Filipino community in the United States that we still face the enemies of the people responsible for these crimes. It is our duty not to let them go unpunished. We will never forget. We will continue to struggle against political amnesia and always uphold the truth.
Michael Ray pleads guilty (tags)
— A former protégé of Sen. Panfilo Lacson pleaded guilty on Monday to unauthorized possession of US government defense documents. Former police senior superintendent Michael Ray Aquino’s guilty plea spared himself a possible life sentence and also spared the US government a messy trial that could highlight weaknesses on how it guards its secrets.
Bush is a Child Molester!! (tags)
spread to the four corners!!