By RONALYN V. OLEA
“Undermining [of previous agreements] is the strongest evidence that the Aquino regime has no desire or intention to engage in serious peace negotiations to address the roots of the armed conflict.” — NDFP peace panel chairman Luis Jalandoni

By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA
The Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) was a landmark agreement unique in the history of civil wars worldwide. But 13 years hence, its implementation has barely passed through the first stage and the peace talks continue to flounder.

By MARYA SALAMAT
Despite the promises of devolution, funding for health services is unable to keep up with local needs.

Sidebar: Not enough doctors, and nurses, in

Sidebar: Where do the sick go?

SECOND PART: LGUs try enterprise to cure shortage in health funding

By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
In an interview with Bulatlat.com, Rodolfo Bejar from the PhilPost’s Domestic Operations and Services Department said that the last decade has seen the PhilPost as being a “virtual bastion of corruption,” and that despite the efforts of the employees to bring the various corruption issues to the attention of the national government, nothing has happened.

In today’s commercialized culture, love is often expressed through gifts of 18-karat gold rings, pendants or necklaces. The means employed in the extraction of the gem, however, are far from romantic. By EDWIN C. MERCURIO Bulatlat.com TORONTO, Canada – Hidden from the watchful eyes of the North American and European public, the operations of transnational [...]

By KARL G. OMBION
Finding it difficult to cope with the spike in prices of oil and rates of electricity? These NGOs have been working with their partner communities in developing renewable energy sources to power their needs and their development.

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Denial of their rightful claim to the land they have been tilling for generations, forcible eviction, killings, and harassments continue to plague the peasantry even after the Aquino administration replaced the much-hated Arroyo administration.

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
The Aquino government, during its first six months in office, does not provide any indication that it is serious in addressing the problem of degradation of the environment and in mitigating the effects of climate change because it is leaning toward failed market-based solutions.

By MARYA SALAMAT
“Health is about people, not profits. The provision of health services should never be contingent on the patient’s ability to pay or the public hospital’s capacity to generate its own income. The provision of health services should be guaranteed by government to its people.” –- Health Alliance for Democracy

By MARYA SALAMAT
SPECIAL REPORT The public and government officials, among them President Aquino, always blame drivers each time a deadly bus accident happens. What they don’t know or chose to ignore is that bus drivers and conductors are working under severe conditions imposed by greedy operators and ignored by government regulators, thus allowing these mishaps to happen in the first place. Sidebar: For Provincial Buses, Physical Condition of Drivers — and Their Buses — Are Key to Safe Travel | More Motorcycles Mean More Mishaps

For the bigger bus companies plying the provincial routes to and from the National Capital Region, safety appears important enough that their regular drivers and conductors are given periodic trainings on road and driving safety. The regularity ranges from monthly to quarterly to twice a year.

Public utility drivers in the Philippines lament the seeming lack of government support and regard for their sector, but the country’s statisticians at least seem to give them due credit.

By MARYA SALAMAT
Special Report As the Philippine military continues to wage Oplan Bantay Laya, its so-called “dirty war” against communists as well as activists, peasants and workers, more and more innocent children are not only being caught in the crossfire but have become targets as well of human-rights violations.

By DAISY C. GONZALES, MARILOU AGUIRRE-TUBURAN and JOSE HERNANI
After eight years of government control, the mineral reservation site in Diwalwal has been eyed by big interest groups, leaving Velasco and more than 40,000 villagers in a constant threat of displacement. Small miners resent government’s policy allowing big private mining firms to take over the site.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Up to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s last weeks in office, impunity presented itself . She should be made accountable for all these atrocities inflicted on the Filipino people.

MUST-READS
On US Imperialism and a way forward for the Philippines

By BILL FLETCHER, JR.
Is the so-called “special relations” with the US beneficial to the Philippines? Is the Left a spent force? What are the prospects for real change? In an interview, Professor Jose Maria Sison tackles these questions and more.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
“The Ombudsman, being an investigative and prosecutorial body, should take a pro-active role in the investigation of this case, rather than be a mere passive repository of evidence.”