Government and the oil companies are using the series of oil price rollbacks to justify the deregulation policy and make it appear that the fundamentals of free market competition are working. However, the continued overpricing and profiteering of the oil firms amid easing global oil prices show that deregulation only exposed the Filipino consumers to…
Category: Bulatlat Perspective
Milenyo’s Devastation of Isla Puting Bato
Isla Puting Bato, located in the breakwater of the North Harbour and the adjacent land of the Philippine Ports Authority, cradles hundreds of families who are becoming more determined to win against the cruel tides that embattle their lives. After a huge fire that devastated the community three months ago, leaving 500 families homeless, the…
Disasters and Faulty Governance
“Development aggression” and “globalization” have contributed to the destruction of the country’s ecosystem (considered one of the richest in the world), traditional protective barriers and once self-sustaining economies that used to enable the people to withstand even the most destructive calamities. Today, they spread horror, despair and hopelessness to high-risk communities across the country. BY…
An Analysis of China’s Capitalist Reform
China’s fast GDP growth has depleted its natural resources and damaged its environment. Workers and peasants in China have suffered. Even the fortunes of the “middle class” will fall. The rapidly growing protests to plant closings, land grabbing, wage and benefit cuts, and corrupt and abusive government officials can only intensify. By Prof. Pao-yu Ching…
The Specter of Martial Law
Thirty four years since the declaration of Martial Law and 20 years since its downfall through a people power uprising, the specter of another dictatorship is more real today than ever. BY BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com Thirty four years since the declaration of Martial Law and 20 years since its downfall through a people power uprising,…
Macapagal-Arroyo Administration Resorts to `Soft’ Media Censorship
On September 21, 1972, then President Ferdinand Marcos put the country under Martial Law, subjecting the mass media to direct censorship. The incumbent President proves to be no different from Marcos as she resorts to more subtle forms of media censorship. By DANILO ARAÑA ARAO Bulatlat.com The intent is clear if one were to read…
U.S.-Arroyo State Terrorism and the Crisis of Comprador-Oligarchic Governance
The impending disintegration of the Arroyo regime is evidenced by its resort to intimidation, bureaucratic repression, and death squads. It is bound to implode in one big catastrophic upheaval that will unleash indiscriminate violence and dehumanizing abuses symptomatic of the advanced decay of the bankrupt neocolonial system. By E. SAN JUAN, Jr. Philippines Cultural Studies…
On the Roll – but Until When?
After junking the second impeachment complaint by sheer number of votes of the majority coalition, the Macapagal Arroyo administration is now ramming through its charter change initiative. Striking while the iron is hot, the administration is throwing all caution into the air to steam-roll its agenda. BY BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com The Macapagal-Arroyo administration and its…
Growth Outlook Glosses over Low Wages
More than the reported 5.5 percent growth in the local output, statistics on wages are more reflective of the economic situation. It would do well for government to address the fundamental problems besetting the poor instead of spreading misguided optimism just to win over the hearts and minds of the Filipino people. BY DANILO ARAÑA…
A State of Siege, a Reign of Fear
Today, the number of political activists and critics killed and missing has surpassed several times over the number of suspected ASG members killed or captured. The “war on terror” has given the government an excuse to go after legal people’s organizations, to suppress legitimate political dissent and threaten the citizens’ civil and political rights. BY…
The Melo Probe: Gloria’s Latest Fraud?
With the Melo Commission just a phony, the President exonerating the AFP from any involvement in the extra-judicial killings and the CHR in limbo with regards its own investigation, whom will the families of the victims of political murders turn to for justice? By Bobby Tuazon Bulatlat.com Being toothless and seemingly beholden to the President,…