By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com The March 4-7 survey of the Social Weather Station, which it made exclusively for Business World, showed that 20.5 percent of respondents or an estimated 4.2 million families experienced hunger at least once in the past three months. This represents an increase from the 18.5 percent or an estimated 3.4 million…
Category: Commentary
Benjie Oliveros | A Sad Day for Filipinos
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Analysis March 30 is a sad day for Filipinos. Three overseas Filipino workers Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, Ramon Credo and Elizabeth Batain were executed after being caught by Chinese immigration authorities and subsequently sentenced to death for carrying heroin into China. Even before the execution, one could already feel the somber mood of the…
Benjie Oliveros | What is Not Being Said About the Uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Analysis Bulatlat.com The peoples’ uprisings in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, and the brewing unrest in Saudi Arabia have been in the headlines lately. Sadly, nothing much is being written about the reasons behind the uprisings except that people are rising up against their long-time rulers because of the worsening unemployment…
Satur C. Ocampo | The Moro Land Problem
In response to the calls by the GPH and the NDFP panels for consultations with, and participation of, various sectors in the peace process, Mindanao peace advocates and people’s organizations met in mid-February in Davao City. They drew up and approved a Mindanao people’s peace agenda for submission to the two negotiating panels. The agenda was presented at the Marawi and Iligan forums. (By Satur C. Ocampo / bulatlat.com)
Carol Pagaduan-Araullo | A Woman’s Liberation
At the March 8 rally, as I waited to deliver my speech to the thousands of women gathered at some distance from the Presidential Palace, I could not help but reflect on my own sojourn as a woman, from a carefree middle-class upbringing to one defined by the social and political struggles and upheavals of my generation. (By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo / bulatlat.com)
Luis V. Teodoro | Iraq Redux
The violence and brutality of Gaddafi’s rule, and the absence of progress during the 41 years he’s been in power, are making the case for the rebels. His erstwhile friends in Europe would gladly turn against him — but not before they’ve seen to it that someone pliable, and preferably less daffy, could take his place, the better to assure the West continuing access to Libyan oil. (By Luis V. Teodoro / bulatlat.com)
Benjie Oliveros | Heed the People’s Call for Immediate Relief
It seems that the Aquino government would rather let the Filipino people suffer than lean on oil companies to “moderate their greed.” It is more scared of facing the wrath of the IMF-WB than the Filipino people. Perhaps, it is banking on its popularity and relying on its apologists-allies who are already in government but still stake their claim to being part of civil society. (By Benjie Oliveros / bulatlat.com)
Satur C. Ocampo | Edsa 1, Broadly
The 25th anniversary of the 1986 Edsa popular uprising again stirred feelings of pride and frustration among Filipinos. The pride stems from our having successfully carried out the first “people power” that ousted a dictatorship through peaceful mass action. The frustration boils out of the unfulfilled promises of post-dictatorship reforms. (By Satur C. Ocampo / bulatlat.com)
Luis V. Teodoro | No More Than Thieves
By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld “Behind every great fortune,” said the French novelist Honore de Balzac, “is a great crime.” The Marcoses most certainly have a great fortune, estimated at somewhere between US$30 billion and $50 billion — much of it acquired, despite claims otherwise, during the martial law years from 1972…
Benjie Oliveros | Two Steps For Justice
Recently, there were two positive developments in the Filipino people’s quest for justice: the victims of the Marcos dictatorship finally got what is due them and the impeachment case against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez is finally being heard. (By Benjie Oliveros / bulatlat.com)
CenPEG | When Security Policies are Based on Lies
The “war on terror” policy pursued by the past Macapagal-Arroyo administration should be declared as good as dead and should be abandoned by the incumbent President. That policy was based hook, line, and sinker on former U.S. President George W. Bush, Jr.’s neo-conservative theory linking Iraq to the 9/11 bombings. Now, an Iraqi defector who was the primary source of so-called intelligence reports that were used to make a case for Bush’s Operation Iraqi Freedom has confessed that he made the whole story up. (By Center for People Empowerment in Governance / bulatlat.com)