All in all, Chrome is a very promising browser. The key to its success, I think, is the availability of plugins and add-ons that would extend its functionality. (Chrome was released only today so there aren’t any plugins or add-ons yet.) Google Chrome should give Firefox and IE a run for their money.

Reuters reported this afternoon that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has threatened to altogether abandon the peace process if the Arroyo regime does not sign the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain.
“We’re not only disappointed and frustrated over government’s decision to turn its back on the ancestral domain deal, we’ve completely lost trust and [...]

“In honoring the plunderers of this nation and letting them off easy without any punishment (like Erap) we not only condone their infamy; other rapists of this nation will also feel redeemed, convinced that they did no wrong. Then, they pave the way for future criminals to do the same, sure that, like Imelda and her gang, they will not be punished and that after their foul deeds, they can even preen in the limelight before a people without memory.”

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.

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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.

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.

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?

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.”

Pakistan’s “dictator,” Pervez Musharraf, has announced his plans of resignation.
Impeachment charges have been filed against him in Pakistan’s parliament, which include violation of the constitution and gross misconduct.
The Pakistanis held their ground and stood united against Musharraf. Elections held in February this year saw Musharraf’s rivals winning in national and provincial levels.
We can also factor [...]

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.

Tomorrow comes another payday. Tomorrow, I will again come to realize the benefits of being a salaried man — the fixed wages, the automatic contributions to social security and health care. Tomorrow, I will again curse this fake regime for taking more than it’s supposed to take — the income taxes.
I understand the concept [...]

A hollow-point bullet strewn inside her head, a dull driver and his equally dull passengers going along Imelda Avenue in Cainta, Rizal — all made life miserable for Tara on the eve of her 23rd birthday. You know what a hollow-point bullet does? It expands upon entering the flesh.

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.

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.

Biglang naglaho ang tuwa ko nang malaman ko kinabukasan rin mismo na ang nasa likod pala ng konsyerto ay isang kumpanya ng sigarilyo. Kung gaano ako kasaya noong gabing nakaraan, ganun din ako kalungkot nang malaman ko kung sino ang sponsor. Ganun na lamang ang aking panlulumo nang malaman kong kakailanganin ko palang tangkilikin ang paninigarilyo para mapanood kong muli ang paborito kong banda of all time.