Reiterating the government’s crackdown on the forces of Commanders Umbra Kato and Bravo, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Tuesday that the rampage of lawless MILF elements calls for resolute military and police action.

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.”

By Carlos H. Conde
Almost instantly, the other aspect of the peace deal that had riled many Filipinos prior to the attacks –- the allegation that the agreement was a Trojan horse designed to keep Arroyo in power beyond 2010 –- was nearly forgotten.

By Pete Lacaba
Both Manila Ordinance 7780 and House Bill 3305 purport to be anti-obscenity and anti-pornography measures. I’m no legal expert, but it seems to me that both of these measures are really censorship laws and clearly go against Constitution.

By Claire Delfin
It was 1984. Hadja Amina Jed, then 29 years old, packed her things, left Maguindanao in Western Mindanao and sailed north to Manila. “Life was hard. During times when father had no catch, we also had nothing to eat,” says Amina. Amina was determined to change her family’s fortune. Going to Manila and finding work seemed the only option.

By Bong Sarmiento
In this Muslim-dominated region that has seen four wars since the late 1990s, thousands of homes in isolated villages await the return of their owners. For the moment at least, though fighting has flared up to the north of the region in Lanao Del Norte, the guns of war have fallen silent here.

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.

By Ronalyn Olea
After a High Court justice branded as “patently illegal” the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, the U.S. Ambassador was quick to deny any involvement in the aborted signing of the pact. But critics have pointed to the prominent role that the U.S. had played in the GRP-MILF peace negotiations.

In a letter to the Department of Trade and Industry and some lawmakers, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP), an anti-tobacco group, urges an “immediate investigation” and for the Inter-Agency Committee-Tobacco to “take the necessary action to ensure faithful observance and implementation of the provisions of RA 9211 on tobacco sponsorship and advertising.”

August 7, 2008

Undersecretary Zenaida Cuison Maglaya
Department of Trade and Industry
Inter-Agency Committee-Tobacco
Makati City
Dear Madame,
Re: An Urgent Call for the IAC-T to Take Appropriate Legal and Enforcement Action regarding Philip Morris’ Sponsorship of the Eraserheads Reunion Concert Set on August 30, 2008, in violation of Sec. 26, RA [...]

“Once again, Philip Morris International has been caught engaging in cigarette marketing that appeals to children in a developing country and that would not be tolerated in the United States and other wealthier nations,” says Matthew L. Myers, president of the US-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

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.

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CPJ ‘Gravely Concerned’ With Killing of Two Journalists Within a Week
Capiz Broadcaster, Also from RMN, Shot Dead
Mindanao Radio Host Shot, Now in Coma

Dennis Cuesta used to anchor the hard-hitting prime-time radio program “Straight to the Point” on DXMD - General Santos. Apart from tackling corruption on air, he also heard out complaints from residents.

“Ka Tanny’s name became synonymous with freedom, justice and democracy as he stood at the forefront of the struggle against widespread poverty and inequality, corruption and tyranny…. Present-day politicians should emulate the brilliant example of Ka Tanny and his brand of nationalism and tireless engagement in the people’s anti-fascist and anti-imperialist struggle.”