A reign of terror: Extra-judicial killings in Duterte’s Philippines (tags)
Since Rodrigo Duterte began his term as the 16th president of the Philippines in 30 June 2016, Filipinos and the international community have watched in horror at accounts of dead bodies found nightly in the country’s streets, linked to extra-judicial killings (EJKs).
PHILIPPINES: Millions of Votes for the Democratic Left (tags)
While the Commission on Elections has yet to announce the official results of the 2013 partylist elections, we would like to thank the Filipino voters and everyone who have made Akbayan Partylist's sixth straight electoral victory possible.
Philippines: Where does the FOI campaign go from here? (tags)
Today, we close our people’s campaign for the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill in the 15th Congress. We have, to the extent that our capacities and limited resources permitted, exhausted all avenues that we thought were open to us to get positive, decisive action from the leaders of the House of Representatives and from President Aquino no less.
Philippines: Coalition Clamor for the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill (tags)
Still enough time for FOI – if House leadership supports it. With only nine session days remaining before Congress adjourns for a long election break, members of the Right to Know Right Now Coalition are reminding members of Congress that they still have enough time to pass the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill even without the prodding of Malacanang.
The Shortwave Report 10/29 Listen Globally! (tags)
A weekly 30 minute review of news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio and the internet. With times, frequencies, and websites for listening at home. 2 files- broadcast and slow-modem streaming. Free to rebroadcast. China, Netherlands, Germany, Cuba, and Russia.
CBCP Statement on the Continued Detention of the Morong 43 (tags)
The illegal arrest and continued detention of the “Morong 43” in a military facility represent serious threat to the civil liberties of the Filipino people. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) follows with grave concern the shifting accusations of the military against the health workers, the conflicting positions of government authorities on the legitimacy of the arrest and detention, and the seeming lack of regard of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for human rights and the rule of law. We are deeply worried about the wellbeing of the health workers in Camp Capinpin. We share the sentiments of other human rights groups that the presence of the detainees in a military camp makes them vulnerable to further abuses, psychological tortures, threats, and intimidation. Sustained exposure to psychosomatic strains may eventually break the fortitude and resistance of the Morong 43 into admitting under duress the accusations made against them.
AGRARIAN REFORM 29 bishops urge Congress to extend CARP (tags)
Twenty-nine Catholic prelates, including Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, have asked the House of Representatives to immediately extend through legislation the 20-year-old Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). The CARP expires on June 10 this year.
AJLPP welcomes church calls for the resumption peace talks between NDFP and GRP (tags)
The Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) today welcomed the call of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) for the Philippine government for the resumption of peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) “without preconditions.” AJLPP national coordinator Mario Santos expresses utmost support to the call of the PEPP. He was happy with the statement of Archobishop Ledesma on the prospects of the resumption of peace talks.
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).
An Appeal to Philippine President Arroyo (tags)
Stop agrarian violence and killing of farmers! Implement agrarian reform in contentious landholdings!
Warnings she must heed: (tags)
All kinds of speculations have been aired since former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante was arrested in the United States for entering the country without a visa. Could his arrest be a US government warning shot to the Arroyo administration? Opposition voices are saying his arrest was made on the initiative of the Arroyo administration. They allege the administration does not want Bolante to come back to the Philippines and be forced to spill the beans in congressional investigations about his alleged diversion of P728 million from funds for fertilizers to be shared with farmers to President Arroyo’s 2004 campaign kitty. Both the Philippine and American governments are not forthcoming with details. The Philippine government has in fact ordered a total blackout on statements and news about Bolante. US immigration experts are befuddled why Bolante was arrested and held. He is in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement “processing center” in San Pedro, California.
Warnings she must heed: (tags)
All kinds of speculations have been aired since former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante was arrested in the United States for entering the country without a visa. Could his arrest be a US government warning shot to the Arroyo administration? Opposition voices are saying his arrest was made on the initiative of the Arroyo administration. They allege the administration does not want Bolante to come back to the Philippines and be forced to spill the beans in congressional investigations about his alleged diversion of P728 million from funds for fertilizers to be shared with farmers to President Arroyo’s 2004 campaign kitty. Both the Philippine and American governments are not forthcoming with details.
US, EU "Terror Lists" Promote Political Killings In The Philippines – Jalandoni (tags)
The Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines took another swipe today at governments maintaining "terrorist lists", saying that the inclusion of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People's Army and NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison in such lists emboldens the government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to continue on its rampage of extrajudicial killings of civilians, enforced disappearances and other human rights violatio
CBCP head condemn killings (tags)
Pesante-USA published the CBCP Statement that condemns the extra-judicial killings that already victimized 75 people this year alone---The president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has expressed alarm over the spate of abductions and killings that has swept the country. In a statement issued today, Archbishop Angel N. Lagdameo described the said incidence as "a sad commentary of our country and government which want to abolish death penalty." Saying that the cases of killings are "alarming," Lagdameo stressed it is not right that people be killed "simply because they have different 'political beliefs' or are suspected of being 'subversive' or plotting against the government."
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.
Is that the whole world will be a place of social justice. . . like China, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, North Korea and, of course, Cuba. Viva Comrade Fidel!