BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat Two retired officers of the Philippine Navy said the eviction of retired Navy officers from the Bonifacio Naval Station would create another stir among the military. Two retired officers of the Philippine Navy said the eviction of retired Navy officers from the Bonifacio Naval Station in Taguig last May 20 would…
Category: Bulatlat Perspective
Exit from Parliamentary Arena Would Be Victory for Persecutors – Satur
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat Bayan Muna (People First) Rep. Satur Ocampo admits that for a while, amid what he describes as “political persecution” of representatives from progressive party-list groups, there were those within their ranks who raised questions on whether it is still worth it to participate in the parliamentary arena. “If we leave…
RP Economy: On the Road to Success or Perdition?
BY BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo told the recent 27th National Conference of Employers that by working with her government, they can take the country to the “Enchanted Kingdom of First World Success.” But the country is nowhere near the road to success. On the contrary, it is well on the road to perdition.…
Death Squads, the CIA and Political Killings in Central Luzon
BY ABNER BOLOS Gitnang Luzon News Service Posted by Bulatlat Stanley Karnow, in his book In Our Image, said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the U.S. government brought the concept of death squads to the Philippines, specifically in Central Luzon, in the early 1950s through known CIA operatives Gen. Edward Lansdale and Charles Bohannan.…
Automatic Tuition Hikes Allowed
BY ZOFIA LEAL Bulatlat.com This coming school year, students and their parents will have to face another round of tuition fee increases. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) issued Memorandum No. 14 allowing private schools and universities to raise tuition by 7.6 percent, consistent with the current inflation rate, without prior consultation. This coming school…
Space for Progressives in Parliamentary Arena is Constricting – Casiño
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat.com For Bayan Muna (People First) Rep. Teddy Casiño, there is indeed space for progressive groups in the electoral and parliamentary arena, but it is now constricting. “It is getting smaller and smaller because the Arroyo government, which represents the status quo, is afraid of change,” he told Bulatlat in an…
Painting a King’s Lexis
BY PINK-JEAN FANGON MELEGRITO Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat.com Everyone who closely follows literature in Filipino knows Jun Cruz Reyes, novelist and short story writer. He is also a painter, photographer, and filmmaker – but he is primarily known as a writer. “The people would be pitiful if there were no honorable writers,” he said.…
‘People’s Calvary’ along the Railways
BY JEWELYN MARANAN Contributed to Bulatlat.com Christ’s passion has for years been compared to the present conditions of the Filipino people who have perpetually been under the burden of social ills. This comparison has developed the tradition of Kalbaryo ng Bayan since the early 90’s which has been flexibly applied and modified based on the…
More Taxes, Less Services this Year
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat.com The government, said Bayan Muna (People First) Rep. Teddy Casiño, may impose additional taxes to raise the income needed to finance this year’s proposed P1.053 trillion ($20,371,445,153) national budget. In the 2006 proposed budget, the real value of the proposed budget for education and health decreased while that for debt…
Military Rebels Say No to Cha-cha
BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat.com Military rebels are “silently observing” the people’s reaction to the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration’s charter change maneuvers. “If the people will strongly react against it, there might be another attempt of military intervention to solve the current political impasse,” a retired military officer who has close ties with the military rebels said.…
Oil Squeeze
BY BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com The country is again facing the prospect of oil price spikes. Why? Can nothing be done about it? The country, and the world, are again being threatened with the probability of run-away increases in the prices of oil, gas, and its derivatives. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for June…