By ARNOLD PADILLA
Underneath the never-ending and intensifying political conflict is the permanent and worsening crisis of the economy. The raging economic crisis feeds the growing dispute among the various factions of the political elite contending for control of political power and monopoly of economic spoils – a conflict that has become more pronounced and increasingly vicious under the nine-year old Arroyo administration.
The perpetrators obviously thought that they could get away with their atrocity. The only possible explanation for such impunity is that these people were confident somebody higher up would protect them. We hold the regime of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo accountable for what happened in Ampatuan. It was her regime that had benefited from the reign of terror in Maguindanao. It was her regime that had encouraged and nurtured the violence that led to the massacre.
When Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita was quoted as saying that Arroyo’s first agenda if and when she gets elected in Congress is to pursue moves to amend the 1987 Constitution, it confirmed people’s suspicions that it was all about keeping herself in power.
Breaking News: Arroyo Declares Martial Law in Maguindanao Share with Bulatlat’s readers what you think of martial-law declaration in Maguindanao
By ARNOLD PADILLA
Malacañang is threatening to reimpose an oil price control if oil companies will not follow the conditions outlined by Mrs. Arroyo. Government, however, has given up the high ground with its lifting of EO 839 and continued adherence to the discredited deregulation policy.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Human-rights advocate welcome the signing into law of Republic Act 9745, which penalizes acts of torture in the Philippines. The challenge now, they say, is for the Arroyo administration to effectively implement it, given its sordid human-rights record.
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
The Arroyo administration will have to work extra hard to prove that it is sincere in addressing climate change and its impacts. Signing the climate-change bill into law is one thing – approving the operation of coal-fired power plants, which have been identified as one of the dirtiest power-generation methods, makes a mockery of it.
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Analysis Bulatlat.com MANILA — He has been hinting it ever since he made himself visible again by embarking on provincial sorties. Thus, when former president Joseph “Erap” Estrada announced, at the end of a 30-minute speech, that he would run for president again, nobody was surprised. Every one was expecting it even…
By ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat.com MANILA — The recent onslaughts of storms Ondoy and Pepeng in the Philippines have drawn attention not only to the general lack of disaster preparedness in the country but also to how the government’s so-called calamity funds have been spent in the last few years. The calamity fund, according to…
MANILA — Research group ibon Foundation asked on Friday how aid for disaster relief given by donor governments was spent by the Arroyo government, in the face of the administration’s apparent lack of disaster preparedness and response when tropical storm Ondoy hit Luzon last week. Poor Are Worst Hit by Ondoy; Inept Political Leadership Makes…
By ARNOLD PADILLA MANILA — “A President must be on the job 24/7, ready for any contingency, any crisis, anywhere, anytime.” “As a country in the path of typhoons… we must be as prepared as the latest technology permits to anticipate natural calamities when that is possible; to extend immediate and effective relief when it…