The impending implementation of the National ID System after a Supreme Court ruling upholding its constitutionality will be a major setback for civil liberties according Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr, one of the petitioners in the Supreme Court case. “In a time when civil liberties are already bludgeoned by so…
Day: April 29, 2006
Railroading Charter Change
BY CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO BusinessWorld Posted by Bulatlat.com There are clumsy attempts to create a bandwagon effect by mobilizing the pro-GMA local government officials to manufacture millions of bogus voters’ signatures; by creating media hype through paid hacks and public relations operators; and by utilizing a discredited Commission on Elections (Comelec) to supposedly verify the signatures…
Painting a King’s Lexis
BY PINK-JEAN FANGON MELEGRITO Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat.com Everyone who closely follows literature in Filipino knows Jun Cruz Reyes, novelist and short story writer. He is also a painter, photographer, and filmmaker – but he is primarily known as a writer. “The people would be pitiful if there were no honorable writers,” he said.…
Bien Lumbera: Activist, National Artist for Literature
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat.com Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera, literary scholar, social commentator, librettist, and poet has been chosen as 2006 National Artist for Literature. He fully deserves the award, and more so than many of those who had received it ahead of him. It is now official. Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera, known as Ka Bien to…
International Mission to Probe Labor Killings
BY ABNER BOLOS Gitnang Luson News Service Posted by Bulatlat.com Alarmed by the unabated killing of political activists, world labor leaders will visit the country next month to investigate killings of labor leaders and organizers and repression of the labor sector. San Fernando, Pampanga—Alarmed by the unabated killing of political activists, world labor leaders will…
‘People’s Calvary’ along the Railways
BY JEWELYN MARANAN Contributed to Bulatlat.com Christ’s passion has for years been compared to the present conditions of the Filipino people who have perpetually been under the burden of social ills. This comparison has developed the tradition of Kalbaryo ng Bayan since the early 90’s which has been flexibly applied and modified based on the…
More Taxes, Less Services this Year
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat.com The government, said Bayan Muna (People First) Rep. Teddy Casiño, may impose additional taxes to raise the income needed to finance this year’s proposed P1.053 trillion ($20,371,445,153) national budget. In the 2006 proposed budget, the real value of the proposed budget for education and health decreased while that for debt…
Military Rebels Say No to Cha-cha
BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat.com Military rebels are “silently observing” the people’s reaction to the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration’s charter change maneuvers. “If the people will strongly react against it, there might be another attempt of military intervention to solve the current political impasse,” a retired military officer who has close ties with the military rebels said.…
Oil Squeeze
BY BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com The country is again facing the prospect of oil price spikes. Why? Can nothing be done about it? The country, and the world, are again being threatened with the probability of run-away increases in the prices of oil, gas, and its derivatives. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for June…
Rumsfeld Linked to Guantanamo Torture
BY HAIDER RIZVI OneWorld.net NEW YORK – A leading international human rights group is calling for the Bush administration to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the alleged involvement of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior Pentagon officials in the torture of a prisoner at Guanatanamo Bay some three years ago. Rumsfeld could be…
US Contractor Admits Bribery for Jobs in Iraq
BY GRIFF WITTE The Washington Post Occupation officials got cash and gifts for deals. An American businessman who is at the heart of one of the biggest corruption cases to emerge from the reconstruction of Iraq has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, bribery and money-laundering charges, according to documents unsealed yesterday in federal court in Washington.…