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.
PHILIPPINES: Statement on International Women’s Day (tags)
The Philippines Should Stop Being US’s Pawn and Warfront
Philippines: The fate of peace in Mindanao hangs in the balance (tags)
Akbayan statement on the video of killing of injured SAF trooper
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 signs law requiring tobacco companies to put graphic health warnings (tags)
President Benigno Aquino, a known smoker, signed the law that will require the scary warning label to cover 50% of the bottom of cigarette packs, front and back. Tens of thousands of people die each year from tobacco-related diseases in the Philippines.
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.
A Budding Alliance: Vietnam And The Philippines Confront China (tags)
Last year, the Philippines brought a complaint against China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea to the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal. The Chinese “were really unprepared for that and were really embarrassed by it,” one of Vietnam’s top experts on Chinese diplomacy told me during my recent visit to Hanoi.
The need for United Front in the Filipino People’s Democratic Revolution (tags)
The Filipino people’s democratic revolution constantly needs the revolutionary united front because this is the effective way to arouse, organize and mobilize the broad masses of the Filipino people in their millions in order to advance and win total victory. The need for the united front is more urgent than ever as the socio-economic and political crisis is rapidly worsening and inflicting intolerable suffering on the Filipino people and they must intensify their struggle against those who exploit and oppress them.
Akbayan welcomes Philippines-MILF deal with hopes for inclusive peace (tags)
Akbayan Party today said it welcomes with high hopes the signing of the last annex to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro between the Aquino government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Filipino solidarity activists call for genuine peace and democratization in Burma (tags)
Manila, Philippines – One hundred (100) solidarity activists belonging to the Free Burma Coalition – Philippines (FBCP) today held a symbolic action in front of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to press for Burmese people’s demands in the second day of Burmese President Thein Sein’s visit to the Philippines. An open letter addressed to President Thein Sein and President Benigno Aquino III was handed over to the representatives of the DFA, to urge the two ASEAN leaders to include in their ongoing bilateral agenda the urgent need to uphold and advance Burma’s (Myanmar) transition to real peace and democracy now.
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
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.
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.
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.”
Paradise Lost: The Flip Side of Boracay Island, Philippines (tags)
“We’re following the due process. And yet this due process is giving advantage to the rich claimants who continue to occupy and build structures inside the Ancestral Land of the Atis in Boracay. We might end up without a land of our own.” – Delsa Justo, Chief of Boracay Ati Tribal Organization BATO)
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.
Women’s rights: Turning point in India, triumph in Manila (tags)
Women’s rights have been in the forefront of international concern over the last few weeks.
PHILIPPINES: The ghosts of martial law (tags)
On September 21, forty years ago, President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law. For almost 13-and-a-half years afterwards, the country suffered terribly from a brutal and corrupt dictatorship. Among the victims of the grave violations of human rights under martial law were the following: 3,257 “salvaged” (summarily executed), 35,000 tortured, and 70,000 incarcerated, as documented by historian Alfred McCoy.
Philippine Maoist rebel army 'sorry' for circus bombing (tags)
MANILA, Philippines - Philippine communist guerrillas issued a rare apology on Friday for a grenade attack that the military said left 47 spectators at a local circus wounded.
Philippines: Sorry state of labor presented in pre-SONA forum (tags)
Workers groups today presented the “sorry state of labor” in a forum that served as a buildup activity to the coming counter-SONA protest on Monday. “In his forthcoming SONA (State of the Nation Address), President Benigno Aquino III (P-Noy) will boast of his administration’s so-called inclusive growth. But to workers and the poor, GNP growth only means more ‘Gutom Na Pilipino,’” averred Renato Magtubo, national chair of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM - Labor Party - Philippines).
Filipino workers band together for a stronger labor front (tags)
SENTRO vows to fight for wages, secure jobs and other long-standing issues
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.
Philippines: Annoying P-Noy (tags)
Because the Reds have time and again failed to sell to the majority of Filipinos their offered prescriptions to our national problems, they’ve resorted to all sorts of gimmicks in order to get our attention.
Philippines: PLM Rejects Neoliberal Policies of the Government (tags)
PLM Campaigns for a Welfare State System
Former Philippine President Arroyo charged with electoral fraud (tags)
MANILA: The former Philippine president Gloria Arroyo has been charged with electoral fraud in a move that could pave the way for her arrest, after the government rushed the case to a regional court to keep her from leaving the country.
PHILIPPINES: Akbayan calls people to enforce own hold departure order for Arroyo (tags)
Akbayan Party today called on the public to enforce their own hold departure order to prevent former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from "evading justice."
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.
Peasant offensives in Southern Tagalog Despite AFP Militarization (tags)
The Pesante NEWS based in Los Angeles reported today that the peasant movement in Southern Tagalog is gaining ground despite AFP militaization in that region. The PESANTE NEWS also learned that the impoverished masses in the Southern Tagalog (ST) countryside are now organized under a peasant movement with a strong regional center. Provincial chapters have begun to rise anew from the surviving 54 chapters in various levels found in areas with existing cases of agrarian disputes and where the peasant masses are being threatened with eviction. Chapters continue to expand and new ones built on varying levels.
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.?
Workers Party challenges Philippine President to protect labor rights at Hanjin (tags)
The militant labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) challenged President Benigno Aquino III (PNoy) to uphold and protect workers rights at the giant Hanjin shipyard in Subic, Zambales as complaints mounted of violations of labor and safety standards. Dozens of members of PM and the Philippine Airlines Employees? Association (PALEA) joined the Church-Labor Conference, an alliance of labor and religious organizations that is co-chaired by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, in a rally this morning at Mendiola in Manila.
Senseless Killings of Activists in the Philippines must be Stopped (tags)
Florita "Nang Flor" Caya, Elpidio "Jojo" Malinao, Noriel Salazar - some of the recent slain activists in the Philippines.
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.
ALLIANCE PHILIPPINES PROTESTS POSSIBLE US BASES RETURN TO SUBIC (tags)
The Alliance Philippines or the AJLPP strongly condemned the high-level visits here by American officials who have raised the prospect of a return of the United States’ military presence in this former naval base in Subic on the wake of disasters that hit Japan, which have delayed the planned US military build-up in Guam. Subic Naval Base was the deepest sea port of the US naval forces in the Philippines. The US naval base closed after the Philippine Senate terminated the US-RP Military Bases Pact in 1991. Only to be reversed later with the passage of the Visiting Forces Agreement during the tenure of Joseph Estrada in 1998.
Marcos would have turned Philippines into ‘another Singapore’ - Marcos Jr. (tags)
Just before the 24th anniversary of the 1986 EDSA People Power uprising, the son and namesake of the late strongman ousted by that revolt on Tuesday said that the country would now be as successful as Singapore had former President Ferdinand Marcos not been removed from power.
Sexual Prey in the Saudi Jungle (tags)
He was an officer in the Saudi Royal Navy assigned to the strategic Saudi base of Jubail in the Persian Gulf. She was a single mom from Mindanao, in the Philippines, who saw, like so many others, employment in Saudi Arabia as a route out of poverty. When he picked her up at the Dammam International Airport in June, little did she know she was entering, not a brighter chapter of her life but a chamber of horrors from which she would be liberated only after six long months.
Philippine rebel leader snared snared in mistress' arms (tags)
MANILA—A Philippine communist rebel leader's secret tryst with a mistress landed him in double trouble, leading to his arrest and the unravelling of his affair with a comrade's wife, the military said Monday.
Philippine rebel leader snared by affair (tags)
MANILA—A Philippine communist rebel leader's secret tryst with a mistress landed him in double trouble, leading to his arrest and the unravelling of his affair with a comrade's wife, the military said Monday.
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.
Reactionary PH Congress leaders urges talks w/o conditions to sabotage peace talks-AJLPP (tags)
The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) based in the United States scored the apparent moves to sabotage the peace talks by Congress leaders in the Philippines. Saying that to avoid hitches in the resumption of peace talks, the government and the communist-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) should not impose difficult preconditions, a former AFP chief of staff said Sunday.
Today we begin our hunger strike. This is the only course of action left us to end our continued illegal detention, there being no clear action by the government for our unconditional release. On December 6, we will be on our 10th month in detention. We were arrested last February 6 by a joint AFP-PNP operation based on a defective warrant. We were tortured physically and psychologically, deprived of sleep, subjected to various indignities, threatened with harm, denied legal counsel for several days and illegally detained until now. Planted evidence was used and false charges were filed against us. Our human rights continue to be violated. Every day in jail is an injustice to us.
FILVET WIDOWS PRESS RIGHTS, BACK LAWSUITS (tags)
The lawsuits were borne out of the deep frustration, anger and longing of veterans and families to seek recognition and justice. The US Congress failed to deliver justice and so people have the right to seek the power of the courts to tell Congress to do its job.” That was the response sent by three veterans groups to this writer’s blog last Nov. 17 that discussed the repercussions of lawsuits filed by Filipino World War II veterans, their widows and supporters on Capitol Hill. The rejoinder bore the names of Dolly Castillo, Coordinator of the Filipino-American WWII Veterans’ Widows of Washington in Seattle, WA; Maria Galang, President of the Association of Widows, Advocates and Relatives for Equality (AWARE) in San Francisco, CA; and Jovy Alejandrino, Vice President of the Senior Pilipino-Americans for Community Empowerment (SPACE) in Los Angeles, CA.
JFAV Updates November 29, 2010 FILVET WIDOWS PRESS RIGHTS, BACK LAWSUITS (tags)
“The lawsuits were borne out of the deep frustration, anger and longing of veterans and families to seek recognition and justice. The US Congress failed to deliver justice and so people have the right to seek the power of the courts to tell Congress to do its job.” That was the response sent by three veterans groups to this writer’s blog last Nov. 17 that discussed the repercussions of lawsuits filed by Filipino World War II veterans, their widows and supporters on Capitol Hill. The rejoinder bore the names of Dolly Castillo, Coordinator of the Filipino-American WWII Veterans’ Widows of Washington in Seattle, WA; Maria Galang, President of the Association of Widows, Advocates and Relatives for Equality (AWARE) in San Francisco, CA; and Jovy Alejandrino, Vice President of the Senior Pilipino-Americans for Community Empowerment (SPACE) in Los Angeles, CA. In our blog, we reported how some key supporters on Capitol Hill, principally Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye, chairman of the influential appropriations committee, were hurt by the lawsuits that appeared to criticize shortcomings in the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation (FVEC) bill which provided a single lump-sum payment for surviving veterans here and in the Philippines.
Philippine Airlines workers protest, appeals to Philippine President to stop layoff (tags)
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) today returned to Mendiola for a rally to appeal to President Benigno Aquino III to stop the mass layoff of 2,600 employees at Philippine Airlines (PAL). PALEA submitted a formal petition to the Office of the President appealing for presidential intervention to suspend the implementation of the Baldoz decision pending its review.
‘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.
Violations of Workers Rights in the Philippines in 2010 (tags)
Aside from the worst forms of labor repression such as the killings of union leaders and members that are well documented by human rights groups, workers in the Philippines suffer from a host of other violations of internationally recognized and constitutionally protected rights and freedoms.
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.
SC RULING SETS BAD PRECEDENT-AJLPP (tags)
The Alliance Philippines (AJLPP) in a statement today, scored the Supreme Court for its bad decision for exonerating Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo from allegations that he plagiarized portions of a ruling on World War II comfort women. The Alliance also commends Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for his dissenting opinion on the matter. In a strongly-worded dissenting opinion made public on Monday, Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said the court will be remembered for saying Del Castillo did not commit plagiarism because there was "no malicious intent" to pass off someone else's works as his own.
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
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.
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.
Race for Phillippine Senate presidency goes Global: From Asia to America (tags)
The EPCC NEWS sources have confirmed that race for the Philippine Senate presidency has turned global. EPCC NEWS also confirmed it's three way fight between Pangilinan of LP, Villar of NP and Enrile of the PMP. Enrile allied itself with LP in attacking Villar of the NP during the last presidential elections. This will have an effect on the senate presidensial race on the Congress opening in July 26.
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.
Human Rights Group Calls on Authorities to Free Two Pregnant Detainees in the Philippines. (tags)
PESANTE-USA , a human rights and peasant advocacy group based in Los Angeles today , two detained health workers accused of being members of the New People’s Army are pregnant and may give birth inside their detention cell in Taguig City if they are not released. Pesante learned it from the group calling themselves as the Free the 43 Health Workers! Alliance asked President Benigno Aquino III to release the accused communists.