“Ambulancia,” a short film written, directed, and produced by Richard Legaspi, will compete and have its German premiere at the 32nd Open-Air Film Festival Weiterstadt, which will take place from August 14 to 18 on the arcadian site of the Braunshardter Taennchen.

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.

Radio Mindanao Network talk show host Dennis Cuesta is in a coma after being shot five times at close range Tuesday while walking in a shopping mall in General Santos City.

“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.”

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 [...]

The economist Mrs. Arroyo is trying to cheat the public over the so-called 50 percent reduction in texting rates which she pompously announced in her eighth State of the Nation Address yesterday,
according to consumer group TXTPower.
“The truth is, text messages may already cost less than 50 centavos. The forward march of mobile technology and the [...]

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an international anti-smoking group, has likewise praised singer Alicia Keys for forcing ****** to withdrawal as sponsor of her concert in Indonesia.

Pulling a 21-foot effigy of a sinking ship, members of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan marched from Tandang Sora Avenue to just beyond EVER Commonwealth to join other anti-Arroyo groups in a “People’s SONA”. The counter-SONA described the state of the nation as “a sinking ship with the captain even robbing its passengers”.

New studies by the University of the Philippines - Center for Labor Justice (UP CLJ) and the Bangkok and Manila-based policy think tank Focus on the Global South revealed
Arroyo’s slow progress towards achieving key targets on economic growth, poverty reduction, and job generation.

In a statement, the NUPL says it “strongly criticizes the recent spate of decisions by the Court of Appeals dismissing amparo petitions which are indicative of a failure to comprehend the intent and nature of the new judicial remedy that initially brought a ray of hope for the victims, families and human rights defenders. These decisions unfortunately disregard the actual state of human rights in the Philippines today that has prompted the promulgation of the new remedy in the first place.”

According to the July 2008 results of the IBON survey, 83.3% of residents in the National Capital Region believe that the government will not deliver on the commitments that Pres. Arroyo will make in her SONA. Only 5.9% said yes.

In a metro-wide survey conducted by IBON Foundation on July 12-13, 87.33% of respondents agree with the proposals to scrap the VAT on petroleum products.

PRESS STATEMENT 26 July 2008
Contact Person: VG Benosa, PLCPD Media Advocacy Officer, Mobile 0918-2936786
A PRO-POOR SONA MUST INCLUDE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND POPULATION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
We challenge President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to take a stand and finally pronounce a clear and comprehensive national reproductive health and [...]

July 1 marks deadline for tobacco ads
An advertising executive and at the same time, a tobacco control advocate calls on the tobacco industry, the local government units, and those involved in tobacco advertising, to stop tobacco advertising immediately as the July 1 deadline on tobacco ad approaches.
“In light of the tobacco ad ban provided in [...]

By Fr. Shay Cullen

The selfless commitment Christians of all denominations to live, risk their lives and suffer for the gospel values, human rights and to live out the mission of Jesus Christ to save the poor and the oppressed from pain and exploitation inflicted on them by the irresponsible rich and powerful, is at the [...]

The Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project through journalist Vincent Sawabi listened to different voices in Sulu – the young and old, the politicized and otherwise, the believer and the cynical – on the impact of the recent kidnapping to their province and to their lives. Listen to know if peace will remain elusive to their island, once known for its bountiful natural riches and culture.

While the Big Three oil firms in the Philippines claim losses due to under-recoveries, their mother companies abroad continue to report record billions in profits, according to independent think-tank Ibon Foundation.