Philippines: The fate of peace in Mindanao hangs in the balance (tags)
Akbayan statement on the video of killing of injured SAF trooper
No to US Militarism in the Philippines and Asia-Pacific! (tags)
“To achieve enduring peace in the region, Asia must be de-militarized; its maritime waters assigned mainly for commerce; and its disputed territories declared as regional commons and war-free zones.”
Philippines Anti-Bases Movement: Time to Assert National Sovereignty Once Again (tags)
With pride as a people, we commemorate a historic national event this coming September 16, the rejection of the US military bases twenty years ago
ACTIVE US INTERVENTION IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
The Pesante News gathered today from news sources that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is deceiving the Filipino people when it claims that US soldiers based in the Philippines are not engaged in operations against the New People's Army (NPA). NDF-Mindanao spokesperson Jorge "Ka Oris" Madlos said this in reaction to a statement by AFP spokesperson Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Jr. denying US troops' involvement in anti-NPA operations. Pesante News said that Ka. Oris, NDF-Mindanao spokesoerson said that "Brawner is a flunky of the US military. He is an apologist for US military intervention. Just like his superiors in the AFP and the Arroyo regime, he praises the US military for permanently stationing its troops in the Philippines even if it violates Philippine sovereignty," Madlos further said that US soldiers have been involved in operations against the NPA for several years now. The 600-strong Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P) under the US Pacific Command has been stationed in the Philippines since 2002 and is involved in "counterinsurgency" operations.
Wage all-out struggle against US forces in Mindanao--NDF/Ka Oris (tags)
The National Democratic Front-Mindanao (NDF-Mindanao) today issued a call urging all revolutionary forces in Mindanao "to wage an all-out struggle against the deployment and intervention of American soldiers in the internal armed conflict in the Philippines." NDF-Mindanao spokesperson Jorge Madlos ("Ka Oris") issued the call in response to the statement by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the US will continue to involve itself in the "counter-insurgency" war in the Philippines which would include heightened support for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
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.
PHILIPPINES: Suspend US Military Deployments to Mindanao (tags)
A broad coalition of NGOs, social movements, and political parties from Mindanao and the rest of the country today called for all US military deployments in Mindanao suspended pending the conclusion of a fair and thorough probe by lawmakers.
Philippine Government Launches New War on Muslim Groups (tags)
War officially came to southern Philippines again as the government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo unilaterally put an end to eleven years of negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) September 3. A month early the government abruptly broke off talks with the MILF on the eve of signing an autonomy pact. There are numerous reports of U.S. Special Forces accompanying Philippines Army units on their deadly sweeps in the Bangsamoro (land of the Moro people) region. More than 100 people have been killed so far and half a million refugees have fled from the fighting. Bourgeois liberals and the petty-bourgeois left lamely call on the government to resume the “peace process,” which in any case was only intended to wear down the insurgents. Revolutionaries instead seek to mobilize Philippine workers to drive out all U.S. forces, whatever their legal status; to force the withdrawal of the AFP from the contested southern areas; and to defend the Bangsamoro people and their right to self-determination.
Talks with MILF to resume after elections (tags)
Stalled peace talks between the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are to resume after the May 14 elections. Both sides have agreed to work toward a resumption of the talks, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement Thursday. ---BACKED by howitzer and mortar fire, elite Army troops on Thursday seized a makeshift camp of the Moro National Liberation Front in Sulu where nearly 100 Abu Sayyaf extremists were believed to be hiding.
AFP 6,000 TROOPS NOW PURSUING ABU SAYAFF IN SULU (tags)
Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon disclosed on Monday that 6,000 government troops have been deployed to intensify the ongoing pursuit operations against the band of Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani and two Jemaah Islamiyah bomb experts in the jungles of Sulu.