Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume IV, Number 10 April 4 - 10, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
NEWS AT A GLANCE GMA in
the world’s most corrupt list
The
Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) said March 27 that President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should also be listed along with former Presidents
Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada in the Global Corruption Report 2004. Marcos
and Estrada were both ousted by popular uprisings. The
group said that Casino King Stanley Ho’s comeback in the country and the
government’s alleged bailout of the Lopez-owned Maynilad water company were
the most recent examples of “Marcos-Estrada brand of cronyism under President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.” Other
cases cited against the president include the anomalous Code-NGO Peace Bond
Scam, the overpriced Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard and the Jose Pidal accounts
exposé. President
Macapagal-Arroyo committed the “most immoral and shameless deals” just for
the sake of her political ambitions, the PCPR statement said. “All these immoral dealings are glaring proofs that the worst of crony capitalism is very much in play under the Arroyo administration and are more than enough reasons for the people to say enough of Arroyo in May 2004,” PCPR said. *
* * Obstacles
in absentee voting Overseas
Filipino workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong expressed doubts over what they called
“serious obstacles” to the success of overseas absentee voting during a
community forum of OFW leaders in Hong Kong last March 28. Migante
Sectoral Party said only 71 election inspectors have been hired to run the
elections while the law provides one SBEI for every 500 voters. This may cause
problems with less than two weeks before the voting of land-based OFWs, it said. *
* * Youth
party slams 5-year high school plan The
Anak ng Bayan Youth Party-list last week opposed the Department of Education’s
(DepEd) move to add an extra year between Grade 6 and High School under its
“Pre-Secondary Bridge Program.” China
de Vera, Anak ng Bayan–high school coordinator, said that the program “will
not arrest the trend of poor showing of public school students” in various
subjects as promised. She also said that the “DepEd does not have sufficient
resources to implement the plan” since it has not resolved the problems of
lack of facilities, teachers and educational materials in the basic levels. De
Vera added that the move is only an added burden to both students and their
parents considering the economic crisis today. To
really improve the quality of state education, she said, the government should
first allot higher subsidy to the sector. Public schools cannot hope to match the standards of their private counterparts as long as the government fails to prioritize education in its annual budget allocation, she also said. Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
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