Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume III, Number 47 January 4 - 10, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
news at a glance Gov’t
breaks own ceasefire
Karapatan
(Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights)-Rizal denounced Jan. 2
alleged violations of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) of
its ceasefire declaration covering Dec. 10 to Jan. 6. The
group said about 100 soldiers, some on board two Armored Personnel Carriers (APC)
and in full battle gear, from the 21st Recon Company and 59th
Infantry Battalion led by a certain Capt. Riende conducted warrantless searches
in barangays (villages) Calumpit and Bayugo beginning Dec. 30. The soldiers were
under the 2nd IB under the command of controversial appointee Brig.
Gen. Jovito Palparan’s 2nd Infantry Division. The
group’s chair, Rev. Armando Perez, called on the government to immediately
demilitarize the province as the military operations in the area, he said,
violate the government’s own ceasefire while the soldiers’ presence
“terrorizes” the people as well. *
* * DENR to blame for Leyte landslide – KalikasanClemente
Bautista, national coordinator of environmental network Kalikasan-PNE, refuted
Department of Environment and Natural Resource (DENR) secretary Elisea Gozun’s
statement Dec. 23 that the pre-Christmas Leyte landslide was caused by heavy
rains, land conversion and basic geology. Bautista
said that such statement showed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s and
Gozun’s hypocrisy since it is the “government (that) did not implement any
reforestation program and failed to stop logging in the province” while
allowing transnational mining companies to “exploit and plunder the natural
resources” of Leyte. Kalikasan
said that Leyte’s forest cover, which was 59 percent during the 1900s, was
down to only 12 percent in 1987. The worst flood that hit Leyte took place in
Ormoc City on Nov. 7, 1991. It claimed about 8,000 lives. Despite
all these, the environment group said, the DENR granted mining permits to Buena
Suerte Mining Corp. and Oro Philippine Ventures Inc. covering 13,876 hectares of
land in four Southern Leyte towns, for mining of gold, silver and other
minerals. There are also four other mining companies and an individual, which
have existing Mineral Production Sharing Agreements covering 10,378 hectares of
land mostly located in the forested and mountainous parts of Leyte. *
* * Plunder
Watch calls anti-graft court decision unfair In
a Dec. 24 statement, the group described the anti-graft court’s decision as
“a classic case of unequal justice long decried by poor and powerless
litigants with the misfortune of having to seek justice in Philippine courts.” Whether
it is to “curry favor with the remaining pro-Estrada loyalists or simply to
get rid of another controversy and source of political instability,” President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s willingness to grant Estrada’s desires proves her
failure to implement meaningful reforms the people have fought for at Edsa II in
2001, the group said. Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
|
|