Philippines: Lawmakers studying the filing of bill against hate crimes (tags)
A pair of reform-oriented lawmakers has expressed plans to file a critical measure that could curb hate-motivated crimes and violence directed at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
Philippine Anti-Corruption Court called on to be decisive versus 3 Senators (tags)
Akbayan Partylist today called on the Sandiganbayan to “respond decisively” to the plunder charges formally filed against Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., by the Office of the Ombudsman regarding the P 10 billion PDAF scam.
Reform the Philippine Judiciary! Remove Chief Justice Corona! (tags)
The Bantay Gloria Network today said that with Chief Justice Renato Corona hounded by serious charges of amassing ill-gotten wealth, he should follow the example of former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez who opted to resign rather than face a prolonged impeachment trial.
MILITARY TORTURE AND STATE TERRORISM IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Despite the election of Benigno Aquino III to succeed the corrupt brutal Arroyo, 43 healthworkers continue to suffer military torture. Five are confined to the military camp alleged as self-confessed New People's Army guerillas, while 38 were transferred to Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, notorious for the massacre of Moro suspects. The five persons on which the fascist generals are concentrating their torture are: VALENTINO PAULINO, CHERRYLYN TAWAGON, ELLEN CARANDANG, JENNYLYN PIZZARO, & JOHN MARK BARRIENTOS. Carandang's children were taken from their home by the military," according to KARAPATAN, human rights monitor. Their relatives are threatened or offered bribes coercively to side with the military and incriminate themselves or their kin. We appeal to the international community to denounce this barbaric treatment and demand the immediate release of the Morong 43.
Philippines: Presidential son is above poll laws (tags)
In the Philippines, being a presidential son allows you to be a party-list nominee without possessing any of the qualifications for being one.
U.S.-BACKED STATE TERRORISM AND MILITARY BRUTALITY IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Millions of US taxpayers' money are supporting de facto President Arroyo's despotic rule in the Philippines. The continuing torture of 43 health workers may be an alibi to cover up the horrendous Ampatuan massacre and numerous corruption scandals, a preparation for martial rule by May 20. Fascist violence will surely be met by the enraged mobilization of the masses. The US public needs to protest the use of their taxdollars to fund Arroyo's extrajudicial killings, torture, and forced disappearances of thousands of Filipino civilians.
On the US Puppet High Court Ruling that the VFA is legal (tags)
"Philippine Supreme Court- a US Imperialist Puppet Court.” As the Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) expected, the Philippine Supreme Court has reiterated the legality of the 1999 RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago once described as “void for vagueness” and “a failure.” The AJLPP scored the two-page resolution dated Jan. 12 but released only Tuesday. The full Supreme Court upheld its Feb. 11, 2009, ruling on the constitutionality of the agreement which re-allowed the large-scale presence of American troops in the country for joint military exercises after the 1991 pullout of the US military bases, and which governs the conduct of the servicemen participating in the military exercises.
ARROYO IS STILL WRONG IN SAYING THE RIGHT THING (tags)
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in defending her declaration of martial law in Maguindanao said:“we can only have justice when there is peace.” She was playing with words. Just like with everything else. GMA played with the Congress and let them hold a useless session just to pull the rug under them by “lifting” the martial law she declared beforehand. She played around with the Supreme Court by giving them a fait accompli and rendering the case “moot.”
THE MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
A commentary on the Nov 23 slaughter of 57 civilians in Maguindanao, Philipppines, sketching the historical parameters of the event and the converging political and social forces involved, with a focus on the U.S. role in establishing the groundwork for the evils of the prevailing Arroyo state terrorism.
US nuclear-powered carrier entry to Manila violates Philippine Constitution (tags)
US nuclear-powered carrier entry to Manila violates ASEAN Treaty The following manifestation was made by Rep. Walden Bello of the Party-list Akbayan! on the floor of the House of Representatives of the Philippines on August 13, 2009. It was prepared by Herbert Docena of Focus on the Global South.
Melissa Roxas: Torture, Not Political Affiliation, Is the Issue (tags)
The latest accusations of Philippine Congressman Jovito Palparan should bear no weight in determining the outcome of the ongoing investigation on the case of American torture victim Melissa Roxas. This must only be determined by the facts, including the evidence currently being gathered by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in the Philippines.
SENATOR PIMENTEL CALLS ON OFW’S TO VOTE ON 2010 ELECTIONS; ALLAYS FEARS OF CHACHA ON SONA (tags)
Senate Minority leader and oppositionSenator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. calls on all overseas Filipinos to vote on the May 2010 Presidential elections in the Philippines. Calling the OFW votes as “the decisive factor and the cleansing votes” he appealed to Filipino American voters in the Filipino American Community of Los Angeles (FACLA) Hall at the regular Media Breakfast Club of LA Wednesday meeting, yesterday, July 22. " There are around 14 million Filipinos abroad. If only 6 million of them votes. that can be decisive in any elections. In the United States there are around 2.9 million of you here. Your votes are not tainted, you cannot be bought. Therefore your vites are important." Pimentel told the crowd.
Very few people know that the US military is directly involved in the fierce fighting going on in the Philippines between the Moro insurgents and the corrupt and brutal Arroyo regime supported by the Bush neocons and the warmongering Pentagon planners. Will you continue to allow US tax dollars to be wasted in this barbaric genocidal war against indigenous peoples? Over a thousand extrajudicial killings and "forced disappearances" under Arroyo's tenure, plus a few hundred Muslims dead as "collateral damage," may be the signs of US "benevolent hegemony" (Robert Kagan) and US "magnanimous imperial power" (Dinesh D'Souza). McKinley's "Benevolent Assimilation" lives on!
The National Democratic Front (NDF) in Southern Mindanao hits the Arroyo regime for feigning innocence and doublespeak while covertly sponsoring the resurgence of vigilante groups like the notorious Ilaga, now called the Reform Ilaga Movement. Mike Santiago, spokesperson of the Reform Ilaga Movement, recently announced they will heed the call of North Cotabato Vice Governor Emmanuel Piñol of "restraining themselves from intervening in the already worse situation in Mindanao but would immediately take action once civilians are attacked by members of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)." Ilaga, civilian volunteers' organization and police auxiliaries will be trained as fanatic fascist frontliners of the Arroyo regime. These groups will be used to wreak havoc not only against members of the MILF and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-NDF (CPP-NPA-NDF), but more against the Bangsamoro people, indigenous peoples and settlers in Mindanao.
Frustrate Arroyo's Cha-cha and All out War (tags)
By declaring all-out military offensive against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front days after unravelling moves to amend the GRP Constitution, Gloria Arroyo has thoroughly exposed her shameless ambition to perpetuate herself in power. Militarization and federalism will not solve the problems of Mindanao and the Moro people; they will only aggravate them. Arroyo and her minions attempt to play their cards well. They try to up the sagging morale of AFP troops after losing to many tactical offensives by the New People's Army by now chest-beating against the MILF and its commanders.
BUSH SENDS NUCLEAR AIRCRAFT CARRIER TO THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
With the subservience of the Arroyo regime, Bush continues the political-military intervention in the "killing field" of the Philippines, wasting millions of tax-dollars in suppressing the Moro insurgents and Filipino national-democrats, abetting the horrendous extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances and widespread poverty and oppression, all in the name of the war against "terrorism," a code-word for popular resistance against global capital's greed and inhumane devastation of the planet.
Philippine Protest Marks The First Senate Hearing On The JPEPA (tags)
14 September 2007, Manila, Philippines. – A crowd of more than 300 workers, farmers, fishers, and environmentalists from the Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition (MJJC) today called on the Senators of the 14th Congress to look beyond the rosy projections and government hype surrounding the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), and to carefully assess its short-term and long-term implications. The group’s call came on the day of the first scheduled Senate hearing for this historic, precedent-setting treaty.
FILIPINO EDUCATOR ASSAILS ARROYO DICTATORSHIP IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
World-renowned Filipino educator Dr. Francisco Nemenzo, former president of the University of the Philippines and head of the coalition, LABAN NG MASA, urges the formation of a revolutionary transitional government to replace the corrupt, brutal and illegitimate Arroyo regime backed by Bush neocons and predatory corporate elite. The following article provides a background to Dr. Nemenzo's principled critique of U.S.-Arroyo State terrorism.
FREE PASTOR BERLIN GUERRERO, NOW! (tags)
On behalf of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I write to express our alarm and dismay over the abduction of Pastor Berlin Guerrero of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. Our understanding is that he was abducted by members of the Philippine National Police and the Naval Intelligence Security Forces and is still being held by Philippine authorities. We are deeply concerned by reports of the tactics employed in Pastor Guerrero's abduction. We understand that he was taken by armed men who carried drawn weapons. No warrant of arrest was produced at the time of his abduction. Reports indicate that personal affects were taken from members of his family when he was abducted. We urge you to call for, and oversee, a full investigation of the circumstances surrounding the abduction of Pastor Guerrero. This investigation should include the activities of the police and of the military and security forces.
Philippines: Charter Change is Arroyo's Cover-up (tags)
AKBAYAN (Citizens Action Party) today stepped up efforts to derail attempts at the House of Representatives to initiate Charter Change (Cha Cha), calling the move as nothing more than an attempt to cover up the seething political crisis hounding Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA).
On the Verdict of the the GANG Rape of a Filipina by Four US Marines (tags)
The gang rape of Nicole by four US marines in the Philippines is not only an issue of a woman but a whole nation raped for the last century, made possible through onerous and lopsided military agreements, much like the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
US Marines' Gang-rape of a Filipina: A Violation of a Woman’s Right / Nation’s Sovereignty (tags)
On December 4, the Philippine Court released a verdict on the following four US Marine “visiting troops” charged with gang-raping a 22-year old Nicole and a fresh graduate from a Catholic University: Lance Corporals Daniel Smith (principal accused) was found guilty. Dominic Duplantis, Keith Silkwood and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier were pronuced not guilty. The latter three were reportedly at the scene cheering while the principal suspect was raping Nicole inside a cruising van at Subic Bay Freeport, which used to be part of the biggest US military naval base in the last Philippines, last Nov. 1, 2005.
US Marines' Gang-rape of a Filipina: A Violation of a Woman’s Right ... (tags)
On December 4, the Philippine Court will release a verdict on the following four US Marine “visiting troops” charged with gang-raping a 22-year old Nicole and a fresh graduate from a Catholic University: Lance Corporals Daniel Smith (principal accused), Dominic Duplantis, Keith Silkwood and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier. The latter three were reportedly at the scene cheering while the principal suspect was raping Nicole inside a cruising van at Subic Bay Freeport, which used to be part of the biggest US military naval base in the last Philippines, last Nov. 1, 2005.
US Marines' Gang-rape of a Filipina: A Violation of a Woman’s Right ... (tags)
On November 27, the Philippine Court will release a verdict on the following four US Marine “visiting troops” charged with gang-raping a 22-year old Nicole and a fresh graduate from a Catholic University: Lance Corporals Daniel Smith (principal accused), Dominic Duplantis, Keith Silkwood and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier. The latter three were reportedly at the scene cheering while the principal suspect was raping Nicole inside a cruising van at Subic Bay Freeport, which used to be part of the biggest US military naval base in the last Philippines, last Nov. 1, 2005.
MILF: WE ARE FOR NEW WAR (tags)
Media sources reported that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said yesterday that it was prepared to return to war should negotiations on territory, the thorniest of issues in ongoing peace talks with the government, lead to results not to its liking. Negotiations on territory, which documents on the peace talks describe as issues of ancestral domain, bogged down in Kuala Lumpur. More than 50,000 people died at the height of the Mindanao War just after Marcos declared martial law in 1972. In 2000, more than a million people were displaced when then President Joseph Estrada declared an “all-out war” policy aimed at dismantling MILF camps in Mindanao.
The Filipino American Community Problems on the Pilipino Language (tags)
August is usually the National Language Week ( Linggo ng Wika) in the Philippines. Pesante-USA presented this paper this week for Filipinos in the Philippines and America to ponder. Its an irony while the Philippine government ( US-Arroyo regime) is reverting to the colonial mendicancy of propagating English to compete in the international market for labor exports, Filipinos abroad and Filipino Americans in the U.S are advancing the propagation of Pilipino in the United States. This is an important development we should monitor and work on. The more than 3 million Filipinos in the United States might be away from their homeland but their patriotism is afire and will never forget their roots.
FREE THE TAGAYTAY 5! FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN ARROYO'S JAILS! (tags)
The massive human rights violations in the Philippines by the Arroyo regime have been universally condemned by Amnesty International, the United Nations, National Lawyers Guild, Reporters Without Borders, and other international bodies. We call on U.S. citizens to demand the cut-off of U.S. military and other assistance to the corrupt and illegitimate Arroyo regime as a gesture of solidarity to millions of Filipinos victimized by the tyrannical, militarist Arroyo regime.
Dismantle the US-Arroyo Fascist Puppet Regime, Resume Peace Negotiations Now! (tags)
For the sixth time, the fake president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will deliver her State of the Nation Address (SONA) as the traditional year-end report to elucidate new policies like all Philippine presidents do. But her sixth SONA will no different from her previous ones: all the high-tech glitz and fanfare in the world will not be able to hide its emptiness and utter lack of credibility
Statement of the all-women US lawyers' legal mission, (tags)
Pesante-USA printed the statement of the all-women US lawyers legal mission to the Philippines from the Gabriela website. This is to inform the US public of the human rights situation in the Philippines. We, the all-women US lawyers' legal mission, came to the Philippines in response to growing international concern over the extrajudicial killings and political persecution of women's rights activists, political leaders, members of the opposition and the Batasan 6. Our presence in the Philippines is an affirmation of international sisterhood and the imperative for women to help each other amid worldwide growing repression and political persecution. In this country, such deliberate constriction of public space for women is symbolized by the persecution of women's organizations and their leaders, such as GABRIELA and Gabriela Women's Party, and Congresswoman Liza Maza, the representative of the women's sector in Congress.
CRISIS AND DISINTEGRATION OF THE ARROYO FASCIST REGIME IN THE PHIIPPINES (tags)
A critical analysis of the inherent contradictions in the current regime in the Philippines would reveal the logic of irreversible fascist decay. While objective conditions have polarized and sharpened the divisions within the ruling bloc, the subjective forces of national democracy and anti-imperialism have not fully organized and united to deliver the decisive blow. Meanwhile, the U.S. and its agents are working behind the scenes to pick a successor to Arroyo and re-consolidate its neocolonial stranglehold. But will millions of concerned Filipinos allow the U.S. and its "guns, goons and gold" to determine again our collective fate and national destiny? Filipinos in the Philippines and around the world will have to decide as the Arroyo cabal, convulved with death-pangs, lashes out at everyone within reach.
Current U.S. Intervention in the Philippines* (tags)
Over the past century, the U.S. has been the leading interventionist power in the world often victimizing small independent countries and national liberation movements and using the military as its chief instrument. In many cases, U.S. interventionism leads to wars of aggression. Other methods used are: political and diplomatic pressures; economic pressures and trade sanctions; covert operations; media manipulation; and others.