Opinion and Analysis

CHR’s De Lima: ‘Civilians Are Suffering Immensely’

By Leila M. de Lima
At the heart of this conflict really isn’t the failure of the BJE to materialize, or the breakdown of the negotiations of the MOA-AD. It is not the rogue armies that the AFP must hunt. These are causes. The heart, the heart — bled profusely — of this conflict is the civilian.

8/28/08 08:26 AM Full Story

Six Steps Toward Increased Energy Security in Asia Pacific

By Kang Wu, Fereidun Fesharaki, Sidney B. Westley and Widhyawan Prawiraatmadja

HONOLULU (Aug. 25) — Concerns about energy security affect economic performance and political stability all over the world, but nowhere are these issues more critical than in Asia and the Pacific - and oil is at the heart of the region’s energy challenge.
Countries in Asia [...]

8/28/08 08:13 AM Full Story

Waiting for the Bus (With Apologies to the Eraserheads)

The other day, I found myself walking almost two kilometers from the office to a bus stop along Edsa. I was to go to the printing press to pick up a job. I haven’t commuted along Edsa for a while now, and I was not really surprised with all the rows of steel nets strewn [...]

8/28/08 07:56 AM Full Story

Fr. Shay Cullen: The Idealism of Youth

By Fr. Shay Cullen
Mary Ann, the daughter of a man who migrated from Finland to Australia and after he made a successful business, he came to live and marry in the Philippines. He died in a tragic death and his wife left with another man who wasted the family resources on vice and drugs. The [...]

8/27/08 05:44 PM Full Story

Peace Process Fraught with Peril for Arroyo

By Carlos H. Conde
Arroyo has been faced with a dilemma: whether to salvage the peace process, or abandon it and deal with the rebels much more forcefully, as her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, had done. Either way, according to analysts and experts, there are big political risks.

8/27/08 09:50 AM Full Story

Peace in Mindanao: At What Price?

By the Policy Study, Publication, and Advocacy
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
Peace is not just the absence of war. It is the outcome of settling an armed conflict by addressing its fundamental roots toward a just and lasting peace. Unless the causes are addressed, any peace that is forged is just a means of preserving an unjust status quo leading to bigger tensions. The peace process can bring about a simulated peace -– but not the ultimate solution to the Bangsamoro people’s historic and just grievances.

8/27/08 09:38 AM Full Story

As the MOA Unravels, What Now?

By Carlos H. Conde
Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project
Given that Arroyo doesn’t have any remaining political capital to work with, the MILF should probably think about suspending negotiations with the government. If the MILF plays its cards well and controls its troops -– it bears repeating that the MILF gains nothing from attacking civilians — the burden of stilling the guns and keeping the peace in Mindanao lies with Arroyo.

8/27/08 09:30 AM Full Story

The Media and Mindanao: The Dangers of Psychological Embedding and Armchair Punditry

By Alan Davis
Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project
The question we need to ask these pundits on the airwaves and in the populist print is how many of them are taking time out to come here to listen, learn and see for themselves at first hand the things they are talking about? How many are platforming their own personal prejudices in place of helping audiences to understand and appreciate more? What are their practical suggestions? War and killing?

8/27/08 09:25 AM Full Story

Q&A: Mindanao on the Brink

By Carlos H. Conde
“Clearly the MILF are really frustrated. After years of back and forth negotiations, breakdowns in talks, etc, they finally reached a territorial deal. But the Supreme Court imposed an injunction, stating that the agreement could be unconstitutional, something that I have warned about. For the MILF, it is not checks and balances of democracy but evidence of a fundamental lack of commitment to the peace process by the government.”

8/26/08 08:48 AM Full Story

Lanao del Norte Atrocities Exposed MILF’s Weakness

By Carlos H. Conde
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has to rise above crude, often needless, violence. It has to make sure that its forces are above hooliganism. It must offer a humane alternative to the atrocity of the State that compelled the Moros to revolt in the first place. It has to live up to the ideals of a genuine revolutionary movement.

8/19/08 07:21 PM Full Story

Strong Tobacco Lobby Bedevils New Law Vs Smoking

To those who still entertain the idea that tobacco companies like Philip Morris are benevolent do-gooders (Heck, they’re bringing the Eraserheads back to life, even for just one night! How bad can these companies be?), check out this story. In it, lawmakers are basically going bonkers over how to deal with the tobacco company’s strong [...]

8/19/08 08:37 AM Full Story

Being PC

For some reason, because of my rather strong position against Philip Morris for organizing the Eraserheads reunion concert, I’ve been accused of being politically correct. Party pooper probably, but PC? Hah!
Apparently, some people equate railing against a company that peddles a toxic product that, in turn kills, thousands of Filipinos a year — that’s Philip [...]

8/18/08 08:20 AM Full Story

The MOA, the Cha-Cha, and the US Ambassador

By Benjie Oliveros
So much controversy has surrounded the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on ancestral domain between the Arroyo government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Instead of engendering peace, it has led to the escalation of the conflict; instead of bringing about unity and the community of peoples, it has led to tensions between the MILF and the affected communities of North Cotabato.

8/17/08 07:40 AM Full Story

Why MOA on Ancestral Domain Doesn’t Mean Much

The MOA has conditions that effectively exempt from the ancestral domain and BJE authority the mining, forest, and other resource areas covered by existing laws, executive agreements, and policies in favor of foreign corporations, local landowners, and other non-Muslim stakeholders. Likewise, the central government can always invoke “emergency situation” and “national interest” to exercise authority over energy resources.

8/11/08 09:53 AM Full Story

Eraserheads Concert: Who’s Wagging the Dog?

Isn’t the profit of Philip Morris from existing smokers not enough, so that they had to lure more smokers, younger smokers? Is their any hope that a company like Philip Morris would be decent enough to exercise some amount of responsibility?

8/08/08 08:47 PM Full Story

In Marketing Strategy, Tobacco Company Behind Eraserheads Concert Targets Teens

“Today’s teenager is tomorrow’s potential regular customer, and the overwhelming majority of smokers first begin to smoke while in their teens…. It is during the teenage years that the initial brand choice is made.” — Philip Morris internal document, March 1981

8/07/08 01:32 PM Full Story

Here’s Why Eraserheads Reunion Concert Could Be in Trouble

I’m happy not because I may have been proven right (sort of) but because at least some eheads fans, it would seem to me, have been illuminated (or have conceded defeat in this debate) and are now singing a different tune about this whole event. They are now faced with the real possibility that the concert might not push through if the Department of Health, which issued the warning on Wednesday that Philip Morris was violating the Tobacco Regulation Act in sponsoring the concert, made good on its promise to sue the company.

8/06/08 11:12 PM Full Story

The Usual Can Be Criminal

We Filipinos needed to re-calibrate our understanding of what’s usual or normal, the instant we began to move out into the world en masse. Unfortunately, that has been difficult, because of the re-feudalization accompanying migration, particularly for women.

8/06/08 08:58 AM Full Story

Bangsamoro Homeland: A Long Way to Go

“The Arroyo government, like its predecessors, is led by big landlords and compradors who have vast and entrenched economic and political interests in most of what the MOA defines as the Bangsmoro homeland. It is inconceivable that the national government as well as the local warlords and other vested interests who benefit tremendously from the present set-up would easily give up the Bangsamoro homeland to the Moro people.”

8/05/08 09:04 AM Full Story

Fr. Shay Cullen: End Sex Tourism and Restore Filipino Dignity

By Fr. Shay Cullen
While a young girl was recovering from a horrific life of sexual abuse and trafficking, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gave the state-of-the-nation-address to the Philippine congress last week and list the many achievements of her government for the past year curtailing the trafficking of women and children is not among them. She is [...]

8/05/08 08:51 AM Full Story

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THE NEWS IN PICTURES

Free at Last. The so-called Tagaytay 5 -- Aris Sarmiento, Axel Pinpin, Riel Custodio, Michael Masayes and Rico Ybañez -- shown here inside their prison cell during their incarceration, were freed yesterday. “The dismissal of trumped-up charges and release of Tagaytay 5 is a victory for human rights,” said Ruth Cervantes, Karapatan's public information officer. (Photo: freetagaytay5.net)

Displaced. Residents of North Cotabato have been the ones badly affected by the military offensives launched against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. "As the government continues to indiscriminately drop bombs on Moro and Christian villages in Aleosan and Pikit, more and more civilians are displaced," said Kawagib, a Moro human-rights group.(Photo: Suara Bangsamoro/arkibongbayan.org)

In One Roof. Villagers who fled their homes after the clashes last week between government troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the south brought every human life with them, including their farm animals. They now live under one roof at an evacuation center in Pikit, North Cotabato. (Photo: Bong Sarmiento / Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project)

Emergency. A scene from "Ambulancia," a short film that tells of a painful twist in an ambulance driver's belief that a dying patient can be saved by running over stray animals on the streets. The award-winning film will be screened at the so-called "Woodstock of short films" in Germany. Richard Legaspi directed the film and it stars Alan Paule and Nor Domingo. (Contributed photo)

Sendoff. The Philippine Army dispatched today, Aug. 10, the 68th Infantry Battalion to Maguindanao. This battalion, together with the 46th Infantry Battalion from Samar, will augment the troops in Central Mindanao for the security operations that will be conducted to ensure peaceful elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao tomorrow. (Photo: Philippine Army)

Killings Denounced. Mindanao journalists gathered in General Santos City on Friday to denounce the recent attacks on their colleagues. On Monday, Dennis Cuesta, a Radio Mindanao Network commentator in General Santos, was shot and is fighting for his life. On Thursday, another RMN broadcaster, Martin Roxas of Capiz City, was shot dead. (Photo by Barry Ohaylan/davaotoday.com)

If This Wall Could Talk. With the pleasant scenery as a backdrop (and a constant reminder, perhaps, of a life they could have had), this poor family try to survive by actually living by the sidewalk outside the Chinese school in Davao City. (Photo by Barry Ohaylan/davaotoday.com)

Undaunted. Activists from Anakbayan scuffle with the police as the Chevrolet Suburban carrying President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo passes by the junction before the newly built Bankerohan bridge in Davao City last week. The president was in the city for the declaration of the merger of Lakas-CMD and Kampi parties. (Photo by Barry Ohaylan/davaotoday.com)

Freedom Denied. Lex Adonis, a former broadcaster of Bombo Radyo in Davao City, inside the Davao Penal Colony, where he was jailed after House Speaker Prospero Nograles sued him for libel over a story involving the Davao congressman's alleged sexual relations with a woman other than his wife. Despite a court order, Adonis remains in jail. (File photo by davaotoday.com)

Tribute to Ka Bel. Activists, artists, friends and supporters troop to the Philippine Independent Church on Taft Avenue Monday night to honor AnakPawis Rep. Crispin Beltran, who died last week. Beltran will be buried in Bulacan today, after a ceremony honoring him at the House of Representatives, where he served for several terms as party-list congressman. (Photo by Ayi Muallam/pinoypress.net)

Rare Sight. Moro women students of a madrasah play volleyball during a break in barangay Ugalingan, Carmen, North Cotabato, last week. While Filipina Moros are considered relatively open in their lifestyle compared to Muslim women in other countries, scenes like this are not very common in Moro areas in Mindanao. (Photo by Keith Bacongco/AKP Images)

Ka Bel's Fight. An activist mourns the death of AnakPawis Rep. Crispin "Ka Bel" Beltran, who died Tuesday. Ka Bel's remains lie in state at the IFI Cathedral in Manila. His colleagues, family and friends have lined up a series of tributes. Click here for the schedules, as well as statements and poems honoring Ka Bel. (Photo by courtesy of arkibongbayan)

Displaced. Lumad families from Compostela and Monkayo towns, in Compostela Valley Province, seek refuge in Davao City after being displaced by intense counter-insurgency operations by the military in their communities this month. The 210 evacuees, of which 83 are children, are now staying inside a gym. The number of evacuees is expected to rise, according to NGOs. (Photo by Barry Ohaylan)