These days, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is turning out to be his own worst enemy. He cannot keep himself from rambling on and on, revealing his bloodlust, megalomania, contempt for objectivity and truth, small-mindedness and bigotry, gullibility for the “intelligence” briefings by the AFP and the propensity for using strong-arm techniques to get his way.…
By DEE AYROSO
President Duterte was more combative during his second state-of-the-nation address last Monday than was during his first SONA. Venting on his prime advocacy, the fight against illegal drugs, and against a wide range of perceived enemies and critics, he came out raising both fists. Last year, in contrast, he extended a hand of friendship and…
Never mind the 2017 Duterte State of the Nation Address, which was replete with profanities, self-serving claims of current and future progress on various fronts, among them the regime’s brutal and failing war on drugs, and justifications for the use of unaccountable State violence. Take his so-called assurance that he won’t place the entire country…
The Marawi evacuees want to go home soon not only because they feel the conflict should have been mopped up earlier with the forces sent in by the government. They also worry over possible threats of dislocation via “rehabilitation” and other plans such as the expansion of plantations and promoting eco-tourism.
A group of families of victims of drug-related killings use art to move on and seek justice.
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective A president’s state of the nation address (SONA) is supposed to be a report of the accomplishments of the administration and an articulation of its priorities and policy direction. There were presidents who even used people as symbolisms such as Mang Pando of the Ramos administration and the bangkang papel…
Thirty years under a sham agrarian reform program and one year under a progressive agrarian reform chief.
By DEE AYROSO
“Groups helping them now must go beyond providing humanitarian relief and psycho-social services: they need all the help they can get in giving voice to the bakwit’s desire to reclaim Marawi.”
Many protesters’ faces were set in a grim likeness, smiling-but-not-smiling, a kind of general resignation that this day, like so many others before it, might simply be another day of disappointment for all.