By RONALYN V. OLEA
A close ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the House of Representatives was accused of grabbing land from supposed beneficiaries of agrarian reform programs of the government.
By ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
If Noynoy Aquino wins the presidency because he capitalized on the popularity and legacy of his mother, it should not surprise him that some people will put on his doorsteps the failures of the Cory administration not only to remind him of what she failed to do but to underscore what needs to be done. He can start with Hacienda Luisita.
While Cory Aquino restored democratic institutions and became a symbol of integrity in governance, her regime remained beholden, if not hostaged, by the military and Washington. This resulted in massive human-rights abuses that were even worse in terms of number of victims than those committed so far under the Arroyo regime.
The Left’s engagement with Cory had been both pleasant and acrimonious at certain stages. While they linked arms with her on a number of causes, there were also issues on which leftists found themselves at odds with the late president.
Even as they did not always see eye to eye with her politically, several progressive groups and party-list representatives have paid tribute to former President Corazon Aquino. They recognize her role in the people’s struggles against tyranny, corruption, and greed for power.
Ni ROLANDO B. TOLENTINO Kulturang Popular Kultura Bulatlat.com Nabuhay akong nagkaroon ng politikal na kamulatan sa kasagsagan ng diktaduryang Marcos. At bahagi ng kamulatang ito, ang pag-challenge ni Cory Aquino sa diktadurya. Bago siya pumasok sa asasinasyon ng kanyang asawang si Ninoy, isinumpa raw ang henerasyon namin—“ang martial law babies”—na ang tangi naming pangulong makikilala…
The failures of her presidency notwithstanding, Cory Aquino will be remembered for helping restore democracy in the Philippines and dismantle the vestiges of the Marcos dictatorship. When the Arroyo regime increasingly became corrupt and autocratic, she again rose to the challenge. Cory fought tyranny to the very end.
Days before the Sona, thousands of farmers, workers, students and activists braved the heat and the rain as they marched from the provinces of Southern Tagalog to Commonwealth Avenue. The march, called Lakbayan, is their way of fighting the regime’s abuses and asserting their basic rights.
Younger generations of Americans are now being taught to expect no end of war — and no end of wars. It wasn’t always like that. By DAVID BROMWICH, Tomdispatch.com. International Posted by Bulatlat On July 16, in a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that the “central question”…
By EDMUND B. SESTOSO Bulatlat DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — The progressive Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas in Central Visayas has urged the Philippine Senate to conduct an investigation into the murder of Negros Oriental peasant leader Fermin Lorico. Earlier, KMP affiliate Kapunungan Alang sa Ugma sa Gagmayng Mag-uuma sa Oriental Negros (Kaugmaon, or Association of Small…
Among other provisions, the CARPER bill mandates that private agricultural lands – the type that the Arroyos and the Cojuangcos own – can only be distributed if the original CARP managed to distribute 90 percent of its target. But CARP, despite the two decades it had, only distributed less than half of it. It’s an impossible provision that only underscores what progressive farmers have been saying all along – that CARPER is bogus.