Another Media Man inIlocos Sur broadcaster survives ambush (tags)
The EPCC NEWS learned today, January 7, 2010 through Philippine media sources that another media man survived an attack against him in the northern provicne of Ilocos Sur in the main siland of Luzon. The report said that two gunmen on a motorcycle shot and wounded a radio commentator while he was on his way home from his radio station, in the latest attack on a media person in the world’s deadliest country for journalists. Eugene Paet, 49, known in Ilocos Sur as Commander Uno of dwRS Commando Radio based in Vigan, was riding his motorcycle on the national highway in Bantay town when two men overtook and shot him at close range at about 7:25 p.m. on Thursday, police said.
The War in Afghanistan and its Implications in the Philippines (tags)
For the Alliance-Philippines, the escalating US-War in Afghanistan has a very special implication to the revolutionary movement in the Philippines. It is not only because there are 5 million Muslims in the Philippines, but also because there is an existing civil war in the Philippines centered in the 2nd largest island of Mindanao. It also indirectly affects the Filipino community abroad as in North America specially here in the United States. The existing civil war between the MILF with the Philippine government and the NPA has dragged on for more than 37 years. It just intensifies in varying degrees in between negotiations; ceasefires and changes in the US supported regimes. The civil war that started when President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972 has claimed more than 30,000 lives, and at present affected more than 2 million people and 650,000 refugees in Mindanao.
KONSULTANT NG NDF ILEGAL NA INARESTO (tags)
Inulat ng balitaan ng PESANTE-USA na iligal na inaresto ng mga militar at pulis ang isang konsultant ng National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) sa usapang pangkapayapaan. Mahigit na 20 tauhan na ng NDF ang inaaresto ng AFP mula ng matigil ang usapang pangakapayapaan noong 2004. Samantala. wala ring patid ang pagsalbeyds at pagpapahirap ng mga tropa ng AFP sa mga sibilyang pilit na isinasangkot sa armadong kilusang rebolusyonaryo. Ito ang ulat sa iba't ibang bahagi ng bansa na nilikom ng Pesante News.
Military in hot pursuit of NPA insurgents (tags)
The military mounted a new operation against communist insurgents who raided a mining firm in Compostela Valley, officials said Friday. Suspected members of the New People’s Army, reports said, attacked the Apex Mining Co. late Thursday near Masara village in the town of Maco. Gunmen, numbering more than 50, disarmed the security guards and carted their weapons, said Col. Benito Antonio de Leon, spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division. He said the NPA torched several equipment owned by the mining firm before escaping under cover of darkness. “Troops are pursuing the rebels and we are awaiting reports from ground commanders and so far there have been no clashes between soldiers and rebels,” De Leon told The Manila Times.
FILIPINA SENATOR ATTACKS ARROYO STATE TERRORISM IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Of distinguished progressive lineage, Senator Jamby Madrigal of the Philippines takes a principle stand critical of the Arroyo regime's bloody and brutal repression of Filipinos backed by the Bush neocons. This article provides a context for the Philippine crisis and Senator Madrigal's views on U.S. imperialism in the neocolony and its complicity with State-terrorist repression.
Bishops: 'Power politics' behind Jalosjos commutation (tags)
Despite Malacañang’s repeated denials, Catholic bishops suspect politics was behind President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s decision to commute the sentence of convicted rapist and former Zamboanga del Norte congressman Romeo Jalosjos. Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care (ECPPC) executive director Rodolfo Diamante said the act also shows the “bias" of the administration towards known political allies. “Obviously it’s political because how come Jalosjos was given that privilege and denied the others who are more deserving," Diamante said in a statement posted on the CBCP website (www.cbcponline.net).
No ‘deal’ behind Jalosjos’ commutation — Malacañang (tags)
Malacañang yesterday assured the commutation extended to convicted rapist Romeo Jalosjos was not a result of a “deal” between the former Zamboanga del Norte congressman and President Arroyo. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, during a press conference, confirmed the President cut the jail term of Jalosjos from a double life sentence, which is equivalent to 40 to 60 years, to just 16 years, meaning he could be released from prison as early as 2010.
PHILIPPINES : Election death toll climbs past 100 (tags)
With just days before May 14, the number of lives lost in election-related violence has breached 100. Camp Crame, the Philippine National Police headquarters, reported that 102 people have been killed and 105 wounded since the election period began on January 14. Camp Crame also said a total of 147 election related violent incidents or ERVIs have been reported.
8,000 families displaced in Sulu fighting; OIC steps in (tags)
More than 8,000 families ( 40,000 people)have fled their homes as Marines and Army troops hunted down renegade Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) commander Habier Malik and his men, who have killed 12 people in Sulu. For three days now, thousands of troops have been sent to Sulu to run after Malik’s band after he escaped when the military captured his sprawling hilltop encampment in Panamao, Sulu on Sunday. Reports said several MNLF commanders, along with an undetermined number of fighters from the towns of Pata, Daungdong and Capual in Sulu, are now fighting alongside Malik.