PHILIPPINES; A CAPITALIST CALAMITY (tags)
Filipinos now see more clearly the calamitous state of the system.In the morning of Sept. 26, tropical storm Ondoy (international codename: Ketsana) pounded Metro Manila and the surrounding regions, dumping a month’s worth of rain in just six hours and causing the most massive flooding seen in the last 40 years. A week later, super typhoon Pepeng (Parma) hit Northern Luzon, inundating farmland and causing mudslides in the mountainous mining region of Benguet, including Baguio City, a U.S.-designed community.
MILF fighter killed in Taytay raid (tags)
A suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebel was killed in a shootout with Marines and police on an island in Laguna de Bay near Metro Manila yesterday. Following the pre-dawn raid, government forces also captured three other suspected MILF fighters in a hideout in Barangay Sta. Ana in Taytay, Rizal near the cities of Pasig and Taguig in Metro Manila. Meanwhile, MILF spokesman, Eid Kabalu, said Mohammad and Sanjali Utto are bandits, not members of the secessionist group. "They are not MILF," he said. "Police are linking them to our organization. We have no members active in Rizal." Kabalu said the police action of linking the captured suspects with the MILF could further delay the resumption of peace talks with the government. "It appears there are certain sectors out to sabotage the talks," he said.