2008 March – PinoyPress — Philippines news, opinion, blogs.

Archive for March, 2008

State Intervention on Rice Industry Needed, Satur Insists

House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur C. Ocampo today asserted that the government must intervene in the rice industry and decisively abandon rice trade liberalization to address the rice crisis at its roots.
Ocampo said the Arroyo government’s policy of rice importation to address shortfalls in domestic consumption requirements proves to be “a [...]

3/27/08 07:26 AM Full Story

IFJ Condemns “Echo of Authoritarian Past” After Veteran Journalist is Held in Turkey

The International Federation of Journalists today expressed concern at the detention of a leading newspaper columnist in Turkey warning that the police action and raid on his house are echoes of of intolerance and authoritarianism still at work in Turkish politics.
Mr. Ilhan Selcuk, the veteran columnist of the nationalist daily newspaper Cumhuriyet was taken into [...]

3/27/08 07:24 AM Full Story

Philippines: High Court grants petition for transfer of venue of the trials of the killings of two journalists

The Philippine Supreme Court granted on 18 March 2008 a petition by the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ) and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) to transfer the venue of the trials of suspects in the killings of two Aklan-based journalists to another branch of the Regional Trial Court (RTC). Aklan [...]

3/27/08 07:24 AM Full Story

IFJ Welcomes Creation of Union Alliance for North of Africa

The International Federation of Journalists today welcomed the formation of the Association of Journalists Unions in the North of Africa, which will act as the regional body of journalists’ trade unions in the media industry in the region.
This ground-breaking development was announced on Friday at the 6th Congress of the National Moroccan Syndicate of the [...]

3/27/08 07:23 AM Full Story

Farmers: Rice Self-Sufficiency the Only Real Solution to Crisis

President Arroyo’s recent directive for the release of P1.5-billion augmentation for the
Department of Agriculture (DA) budget to increase rice production in the face of the supply crisis, according to Centro Saka and the National Rice Farmers Council (NRFC), is a case of “too little too late”.
“It is unrealistic to think that we can avert [...]

3/27/08 07:23 AM Full Story

Couple Is Latest Victim of Enforced Disappearance

As the nation paused to commemorate and reflect on the Passion of Christ this Lenten season, three people were forcibly taken by unidentified men in Bacoor, Cavite on March 20, 2008, Maundy Thursday.
The victims were Jimmy Soleded, Clarita Luego-Soledad and Vilma Madrazo, Clarita’s cousin. Madrazo was released by their captors. It has been [...]

3/27/08 07:22 AM Full Story

Oil Price Hikes More Frequent Under Arroyo

It’s is not only because of the length of the president’s term but because of her continued implementation of the oil deregulation law amid public outcry, and her imposition of the reformed value-added tax (RVAT) on oil.

3/27/08 07:20 AM Full Story

PBO Presents Its DIGITALES 2 Contest Finalists

PBO, VIVA Productions’ Pinoy movie channel, announces the finalists to its DIGITALES 2 film competition: “Shorts” by Seymour Barros Sanchez, “Hiling” by Patricia Lorraine C. Rosal, “OFW – Ang Bagong Bayani o Baliw na Bayani” by Noriel M. Jarito, “Ambulancia” by Richard Legaspi, “ISA” by Ronald Espinosa Batallones, “Kwidaw” by Roswill Hilario, and “Walang Paraiso” [...]

3/27/08 07:19 AM Full Story

2 Doable Steps, 3 Policy Changes Proposed to Avert Rice Crisis

Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur C. Ocampo today proposed “two immediate and doable rice action plan and three imperative policy changes” to avert the looming rice crisis in the country.
Ocampo issued the proposal after prices of the country’s staple food shot up to an average of P29 per kilogram in the local [...]

3/27/08 07:18 AM Full Story

Arroyo Veto on Debt Service Provisions Assailed

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel,
Jr. (PDP-Laban) today accused President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo of breaking anew the constitutional
principle of transparency by blocking the mandatory
public disclosure of repayments for government debts.
Pimentel assailed the President’s veto of a provision
in the 2008 national budget that would require the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Department
of Finance (DoF) to submit [...]

3/27/08 07:14 AM Full Story

2006 Official Poverty Stats: Worse Than It Looks

Poverty in the Philippines has become so prevalent that it can no longer be hidden, only downplayed through statistical manipulation.

3/26/08 10:35 PM Full Story

Papaya Dance Craze on ‘Good Morning America’

3/25/08 11:12 AM Full Story

Ex-President Cory Aquino Has Colon Cancer

BREAKING NEWS The ailment was discovered after Aquino, 75, underwent a series of tests because of hypertension and a difficulty in breathing in December. Since then, her daughter Kris said Monday, the former president had lost weight -– 10 pounds in two weeks — and suffered consistent coughing and a loss of appetite.

3/24/08 05:26 PM Full Story

NFA Should Buy More Local Rice, Not Import

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel,
Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said the government should
intensify the production of rice instead of telling
the people to reduce their consumption of the staple
cereal.
Pimentel cautioned Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap
against insisting on his suggestion for people to cut
down their rice consumption because this is the kind
of reckless statement by administration officials that
can [...]

3/23/08 10:51 PM Full Story

Cambodia: Opposition Officials Arrested to Sway Elections

Government Campaign to Coerce Defections to Ruling Party
(New York, March 23, 2008) – Politically motivated criminal charges against at least three opposition party officials are part of a ruling party campaign to weaken political rivals prior to national elections in July 2008, Human Rights Watch said today.
The authorities last week arrested Tuot Saron, an official [...]

3/23/08 10:49 PM Full Story

Philippines Should Draw Up Its Map to Protest Its Spratly Claim

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel,
Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said Congress and the executive
branch should adopt a common position on the issue of
the urgent legislation delineating the archipelagic
baselines of the Philippines to protect its
territorial right over the disputed Kalayaan Islands,
known in the international map as the Spratly islands.
Pimentel said that the bill to draw up [...]

3/23/08 10:49 PM Full Story

Tibet Unrest Signals Deeper Problems — China Expert

HONOLULU – While the unrest and street violence that has erupted in Tibet is rooted in resentment against the Chinese government’s neo-colonial policies, it is also symptomatic of broader and even more serious problems within the overall Chinese political economy, a top East-West Center researcher said here this week.
“While the grievances of the Tibetans [...]

3/23/08 10:48 PM Full Story

Brad Glosserman » Japan Peers Into the Abyss

By Brad Glosserman

It is an item of faith for many Japanese – and many Japan watchers – that their country will never build or acquire nuclear weapons. Japan’s nonnuclear status, a product of both the searing experience of August 1945 and a calculation of the strategic value of nuclear weapons, has been a pillar [...]

3/23/08 10:47 PM Full Story

LATEST STORIES FROM DAVAOTODAY.COM

Duterte-Nograles tiff over park prelude to 2010?

Urban poor group hits Arroyo on housing mega-sale

Military operations in ComVal is linked to mining – environmental alliance

San Isidro town govt to penalize cacao felling

Boston villagers recount tales of military abuses

STORIES BY CARLOS H. CONDE

40 die as Philippine ferry capsizes

Asia, too, feels the pain

As the MOA Unravels, What Now?

Peace process fraught with peril for Arroyo

Islamic separatists kill 28 in Philippines rampage

THE NEWS IN PICTURES

Spawn. This photo, taken by photojournalist Sonny Espiritu, won the Best Single Photo award in the recent annual PopDev Awards. The photo was first published by the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project with this caption: "An urban poor woman feeds her youngest child while washing clothes for a living and looking after other children. Modern contraception advocates say having fewer children would help fight poverty and hunger, but the predominent Catholic Church says there is no link between poverty and population, of which the Philippines has now almost 90 million."

End The Violence. Members of the women's group Gabriela make known their sentiments about violence against women. They commemorated yesterday, Nov. 25, the "International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. (Photo courtesy of arkibongbayan.org)

Anti-GMA Protest in LA. Members of GABNet, the progressive Filipino women's group in the United States, outside the LAX Sheraton in Los Angeles last week to protest the persecution and killing of political activists in the Philippines. The protest was timed for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stopover en route to Peru for the Apec summit. (Photo courtesy of Ninotchka Rosca/GABNet)

Tagaytay on a Sunday. Kite-flying has become a favorite activity at the Picnic Grove in Tagaytay. On an overcast but generally pleasant afternoon last Sunday, dozens of kites colored the skies, complementing the view of Taal Volcano in the background. (Photo by Ayi Muallam)

Downed. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front released Friday this photo of some of its members playing with what the group claimed was an unmanned spy plane that crashed earlier this month. The front said the alleged drone was a property of the US military. More details here.

Hunger Amid War. This child refugee is one of the thousands affected by the war in Mindanao. The situation in North Cotabato and Maguindanao has deteriorated since renewed fighting between government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) broke out in Aleosan and Midsayap, North Cotabato last Aug. 8, according to groups that held last month the National Interfaith Humanitarian Mission in North Cotabato and Maguindanao. (Photo courtesy of Kalinaw Mindanao/arkibongbayan.org)

Another Bayan Muna Leader Killed. Danny Qualbar, an officer of the Compostela Farmers' Association and coordinator of Bayan Muna was on his way to Compostela town Thursday afternoon to buy fish for his family when assassins in motorcycles shot him. Qualbar was the second Bayan Muna member killed this year in Compostela Valley. Top photo shows Qualbar’s eldest child grieving his death. (Photo by Jonald Mahinay/davaotoday.com)

Stairway to Heaven. Found in the middle of the forest, the cascading waters of Aliwagwag waterfalls in Cateel, Davao Oriental, looks like a descending stairway. No wonder it is considered one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Mindanao. (Photo by Grace S. Uddin / davaotoday.com)

Stop Militarizing Communities! Members of farmer's group Kilusang Magbubukid sa Pilipinas in Southern Mindanao Region held a rally October 8 in front of the headquarters of the Eastern Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Camp Panacan, Davao City. The group called for the pullout of troops conducting massive military operations in Tamayong in Davao City, Talaingod in Davao del Norte, Monkayo in Compostela Valley and in the towns of Baganga, Cateel, Boston in Davao Oriental and Lingig Surigao Del Sur. (Photo by Jonald Mahinay/davaotoday.com)

Land and Peace Concert. Students from Tribung Bayanga National High School perform before the crowd at Gaston Park in Cagayan De Oro City on October 23 night during the Yuta ug Kalinaw Concert. The two-hour concert was part of the Integrity of Creation Solidarity week that kicked-off last October 19. The week-long activity was a gathering of mining affected communities and support groups to discuss the issues affecting their communities. (Photo by AKP Images / Keith Bacongco)

Full Capacity. Normally, passenger vans are allowed to carry 14 people. But this one is apparently beyond its carrying limit as it negotiates the zigzag road in Sulop, Davao del Sur, a known accident- and landslide-prone area. (Photo by Keith Bacongco / AKP Images)

The Child as Vigilante. A 10-year-old boy carries a firearm and joins members of the Ilaga, an infamous anti-Moro militia, in its camp in Aleosan, North Cotabato. The child's father leads the dreaded vigilante group in the area. (Photo by Romy Elusfa/Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project)

Under Repair. A "Skylab," the most common mode of transportation in the Agusan provinces and elsewhere in Mindanao, undergoes a repair at a shop in Butuan City. The motorcycle is fitted with wooden "wings" on both sides -- hence the moniker -- and is capable of carrying up to eight passengers. (Photo by Keith Bacongco / AKP Images)

Free At Last. Pastor Berlin Guerrero of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines, shown above with wife Mylene, was released after 15 months in police detention. He had been abducted and went missing for days before the police came out to say that he was arrested on a murder charge, which his family and colleagues said had been fabricated. A court ordered him released on Sept. 11. (Photo by arkibongbayan.org)