We have gone this far holding mass media as our own, having our trusty old watchdog, though limping and perhaps infested with fleas, bite the hands off dictators and dishonest leaders. Why let a strange collie, no matter how attractive it is, do the gate keeping? By ROANNE DURAN Contributed to Bulatlat.com The ownership and…
Category: Bulatlat Perspective
Going After Serial Killers outside RP
There are legal and political courses of action available internationally which the victims’ families, rights groups, lawyers and civil libertarians can take to seek redress for the unmitigated killings including the prosecution of those responsible. There have been legal precedents under which state governments, prime ministers and individual generals who have committed war crimes and…
Macapagal-Arroyo Needs Subservient Media to Survive
The powers-that-be are creating an atmosphere conducive for a subservient media and a kind of journalism that is biased for the “official line.” BY DANILO ARAÑA ARAO Bulatlat.com The political crisis besetting the Macapagal-Arroyo administration has reached a point where the latter now desperately needs a subservient media to politically survive. In the context of…
Visayas Journalists Hit Media Corruption
Although corruption in the media is rampant in Eastern Visayas (EV), there are still journalists here who believe that it is never justifiable to engage in any form of corruption just because of poor economic condition of journalists. BY MAUREEN JAPZON Bulatlat.com TACLOBAN CITY – Although corruption in the media is rampant in Eastern Visayas…
Extra-judicial Killings and Sham Investigation
The presidential order forming the commission is widely seen more as a political gimmick rather than as a major step toward stopping the extra-judicial killings. It was meant to mollify public outrage over the killings and clear the constitutionally-impaired presidency of possible accountability. BY THE POLICY STUDIES, PUBLICATION AND ADVOCACY (PSPA) PROGRAM CENTER FOR PEOPLE…
Expecting the Other ‘Eruption’ in Tabaco City
An eruption of a different kind is happening in Tabaco City, and this has nothing to do with the hot lava coming from Mayon Volcano, the Bicol region’s crown jewel and located to its south. BY DANILO ARAÑA ARAO Bulatlat.com TABACO CITY – Isn’t it strange that this city appears to be detached from the…
Guimaras Oil Spill Ship Found Unfit for Sailing
Ship captain had no oil management and safety training Initial findings from a Board of Marine Inquiry investigation of the Aug. 11 oil spill in Guimaras reveal that the safety management certificate of Solar 1, the ship that figured in the disaster, had already expired. Moreover, the board suspended the ship’s captain Norberto Aguro for…
Confronting Terror
The Arroyo government does not need more powers to confront terrorism, it needs less of it. On the other hand, the Filipino people must not surrender their rights to confront terrorism, it needs more of it. BY BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com The alleged foiled plot of terrorists to bomb commercial planes shuttling from Heathrow Airport in…
Merging Executive Policy and Military Strategy
First of three parts In the long-drawn war against the Marxist guerrillas where force takes the lead, the country’s security forces have had a reproachable record in human rights threatening even legitimate political dissent, the peaceful advocacy of radical reform and, now, the use of the legislature to push for patriotic and progressive legislation. BY…
What Drives Macapagal-Arroyo’s “Silent War”?
Last of three parts The issue of political murders is tied to the issue of regime survival. BY BOBBY TUAZON Bulatlat.com The recent directive of Macapagal-Arroyo to the justice department and Philippine National Police (PNP) to solve at least 10 political killings in 10 weeks is obviously just for show. The PNP is not only…
‘Battlefield’ Bicol
The Bicol Region, located at the southernmost part of Luzon, is one of the places where the battle between the government and communist revolutionaries for winning the hearts and minds of the people is particularly intense. Mang Ricky and Aling Melba, interviewed by Bulatlat somewhere in the region, said that aside from the poverty they…