A player attempts a header as he receives a pass in this spirited beach soccer game with Bali’s famed sunset as a backdrop. (Bali, Indonesia)
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Day: February 8, 2013
The Irrational, Racist Fear of China
By ANDRE VLTCHEK Counterpunch.org Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Libya are in shambles, crushed by the heavy boots of Western imperialism. But we are told to fear China. The entire nations of Indochina were bombed back to the stone age, because Western demi-gods would not tolerate, and felt they did not have to, tolerate, what some…
Okinawa: Notes from the “Evil Island”
By ANDRE VLTCHEK Counterpunch.org It is all about barbed wire, warnings and checkpoints. And to make it worse, Futenma air force base is right in the middle of an extremely densely populated urban area. Several middle-aged Japanese citizens are besieging the sedans and SUV’s driven by the US military personnel who are leaving their barracks…
‘D Wonder Twins of Boac’ and Philippine cinema
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com MANILA – It’s an old tale one can narrate over and over again – with varying settings and back story – but one would still get the same enchanting result. The Philippine Educational Theater Association closes its 45th season with a comedy-musical “D Wonder Twins of Boac,” a modern…
CLOA distribution in Bondoc Peninsula dubbed as PR stunt
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“The certificate of land ownership award (CLOA) is a mere scrap of paper. It only means that from now on, the so-called farmer beneficiaries will have to pay the government for 30 years without assurance that they will own the land.” – Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
MNLF, ASG clashes show deep-seated, unresolved conflict in Mindanao
By MARYA SALAMAT
The Armed Forces of the Philippines said they would not get involved, except to evacuate civilians likely to be affected. But in Manila, a lawyer who said that he is a spokesperson of the MNLF Emmanuel Fontanilla has charged that the ASG is likely getting arms and ammunitions from the AFP.
Health workers, urban poor, patients hold picket against Orthopedic Center privatization
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL Bulatlat.com MANILA – Under the scorching heat of the sun, Antonio Solayao, 55, did not mind holding a banner while shouting, “Do not profit from a basic service to the people!” in front of the Public-Private Partnership Center in Quezon City. Solayao, together with health workers and the urban poor…
Groups belie claims that the Philippines is the ‘rising tiger’ of Asia
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
“Only through taking steps in building the domestic economy and ensuring social welfare intervention can joblessness and forced migration be truly addressed. Without these, the Philippine economy cannot be a rising tiger, only a mythical beast feasting on the desperation of our Filipino labor force.” – Migrante
Dark legacy
By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld “The bill should make us realize that never again should we allow the atrocities of the Marcos regime to happen in this country.” The “bill” Senator Francis Escudero was referring to is the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013, which both houses of Congress…
Upside and downside of the national economy
By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star As expected, President Aquino and his economic team wax euphoric over the official report that the national economy expanded by 6.6% in 2012, from 3.9% growth rate in 2011. “It is a resounding affirmation of the Aquino administration’s fiscal strategy, backed as it is…
Too many questions surrounding US Navy ships’ port calls
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com While the Filipino people are still following with trepidation the developments regarding the removal of the USS Guardian from the Tubbataha reef, two more US ships – nuclear attack submarine USS Cheyenne and warship USS Stockdale, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer – docked at Subic. This manifests the insensitivity of…