Former President Joseph Estrada put an end today to the rumors that he is backing out of the presidential race to support the presidential bid of Senator Noynoy Aquino

The Anak Mindanao (AMIN) Party-list today urges the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Food Authority (NFA) to prioritize the development of agriculture in Mindanao to supply the needed food stocks required by the whole country.

Anakpawis Rep. Joel Maglunsod strongly condemned Malacanang’s appointment of National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales as the new Department of National Defense (DND) chief replacing Gilbert Teodoro Jr.
Maglunsod described Gonzales’ appointment as ‘hell on earth’ as human rights violations are expected to further escalate with Gonzales, a known militarist, at the helm of the defense [...]

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said that although he and other senators signed the investigation report submitted by Sen. Richard Gordon, they do not agree with certain portions and will move to amend them when the report is taken up during the plenary session of the chamber.

Amid the national jubilation over the latest win of Manny Pacquiao, cause oriented groups and farmers today retained an air of sadness as they commemorated the 5th anniversary of the Hacienda Luisita Massacre.

To a certain degree, Executive Order 839 questioned the lies long peddled by the oil companies and staunch defenders of neoliberalism about neoliberal free market economics. If left unchallenged, EO 839 could become a precedent in policy making: that the government, in the name of public good and welfare, could take decisive action against abusive corporations.

Geneva (ICRC) – More action is needed to assist and protect people displaced within their own countries by armed conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said today.
Unveiling a special report on internally displaced people (IDPs), the ICRC drew attention to the fact that most displaced people do not end up in camps [...]

The US Troops Out Now! Mindanao Coalition believes that Secretary Clinton’s rhetoric of supporting peace in Mindanao must begin with the scrapping of the VFA, the pull out some 600 embedded American soldiers in Mindanao, and the demolition of US military structures in the island.

Solidarity with typhoon victims? A humanitarian visit? The upcoming 2010 elections? These are just some of the avowed objectives of the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Philippines from November 12-13. Groups like Bayan however are unconvinced that these are the only reasons why Clinton will be visiting the Philippines.

Reports have claimed that climate change and the show of support and solidarity with the victims of the recent typhoon of Pepeng and Ondoy are part of the agenda of Hillary Clinton in her one-day visit to the country. However, environmental groups remain skeptic as to the real intentions of US and just how genuine [...]

OIL CRISIS   Amid the uproar over the Malacañang-imposed oil price ceiling, Executive Order (EO) 389 is apparently a mere government public relations gimmick, according to Ibon Foundation.

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS   The decline in worldwide abortion occurred alongside a global trend toward liberalizing abortion laws. Nineteen countries have significantly reduced restrictions in their abortion laws since 1997, while only three countries have substantially increased legal restrictions.

HUMAN RIGHTS   “While the fall of the Berlin wall symbolized the opening of borders, the signature response of Europe now to the challenges of migration is to turn the continent into a fortress,” said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International.

Poor Women Most Affected by Unsafe Procedures
Induced abortion is legal under very limited circumstances in Pakistan, yet it is commonly performed, according to a new literature review, Abortion in Pakistan, released today in Karachi by the National Committee for Maternal and Neonatal Health (NCMNH) and the Guttmacher Institute. Researchers estimate that 890,000 abortions were performed [...]

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES   Hundreds of Lumad leaders representing various ethnolinguistic tribes from Davao, Cotabato and Agusan provinces gathered here yesterday for the convention of Katribu partylist, a sectoral partylist group aiming to represent the rights and welfare of indigenous groups in the lower house for the 2010 elections.