News
Protests greet CARP anniversary
PROTEST actions in Manila and other parts of the country marked the 15th anniversary of the sham and inutile Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) staged a week of protest actions in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform's (DAR) national office. The KMP demanded President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's resignation because of widespread landgrabbing and intense militarization.
Protest actions also took place in the cities of Iloilo, Cebu, Bacolod, San Fernando in Pampanga and other places. On June 2, members of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (AMB) held a dialogue with DAR Sec. Roberto Pagdanganan regarding widespread landgrabbing in his own province.
Anti-PPA rallies held in Panay and Negros
PROTEST actions against the power purchased adjustment (PPA) were launched in Panay along with the commemoration of "Independence Day" on June 12.
Four thousand demonstrators led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and the Archdiocese of Jaro, Iloilo gathered in Iloilo City. Aside from the PPA, the rally also assailed plans to change the 1987 constitution.
Similar activities were also held in the cities of Roxas, Capiz and Kalibo, Aklan. In Bacolod, Bishop Vicente Navarra called for the junking of the PPA and the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.
New coalition against "chacha" formed
IN response to a call from Vice President Teofisto Guingona, a new coalition of 36 organizations was formed on June 12 in order to oppose the revision of the country's charter. They signed a manifesto entitled "Preserve, Protect and Promote National Patrimony."
Some of the organizations that joined the coalition include the Council on Philippine Affairs (COPA), Plunder Watch, Bayan Muna, Free Trade Alliance, BAYAN, Silent Protest Movement and Bagong Bandila.
RPA rapists being protected by government
MILITANT groups in Negros criticized the reactionary government for protecting RPA-ABB elements that kidnapped and raped a 15-year old girl.
An RPA unit led by Jecky "Maitan" Casiple kidnapped the victim from the restaurant she worked in, in Silay City, Negros Occidental on May 11. From there, she was taken to a fishpond in Talisay City which served as an RPA safehouse and armory, where she was tortured and raped.
POEA pressures ship explosion victims to drop suit
THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has been pressuring the families of nine seamen who are victims of a ship explosion to withdraw charges filed against the ship's owners. The seamen are among the six killed and five injured when the boiler room of the ship Norway exploded on May 25 as it docked in Miami, Florida, USA.
According to the seamen's lawyer, the POEA warned the victims' families that they would not be given burial benefits unless they dropped their charges against the owners of the Norway.
Church scandals assailed
THE Catholic church has been hit in the last few days by successive sexual harassment scandals. Certain church officials have been accused of using their high positions to take advantage of their victims. Among the church leaders embroiled in controversy are Bishops Teodoro Bacani, Crisostomo Yalung and Teodoro Buhain.
In the face of this controversy, Fr. Joe Dizon of Kairos, a pro-masses organization of Catholics, has asserted that the church must pay attention to even bigger scandals and social problems, among them the high cost of education, low wages and landlessness.
North Korea defends nuclear arms production
NORTH Korea has admitted to having a nuclear arms production program. In a government statement on June 9, North Korea said that the purpose of possessing a nuclear deterrent is to enable it to reduce its conventional weapons and army. Its avowed aim is to "devote manpower and funds for economic construction and the betterment of the people's livelihood."
North Korea continues to severely criticize the US threat of aggression against the country. The government's official publication Rodong Shinmun assailed the US plan to transfer American troops further away from the demilitarized zone in the Korean Peninsula and provide South Korea with $11 billion worth of war materiel.
North Korea said these were indications that the US was making further preparations to attack the country.
Myanmar opposition leader jailed anew
LEADING Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is still imprisoned in a military camp. Suu Kyi was arrested anew on May 30 when government supporters disrupted an opposition rally. Other opposition leaders are now feared dead.
Suu Kyi won as president during an election in 1990, but the Myanmar military rejected the poll results and instead jailed her.
US presses junking of Belgium's anti-war crimes law THE US is coercing Belgium to junk a law that allows the country to try crimes against humanity regardless of where they were committed and by whom. This is despite the fact that Belgium had already significantly watered down the law as a concession to the US. Based on an amendment made last April, the accused may be tried in his own country if it has a legal system that could "handle a complaint properly."
As a result of the watered-down law, the cases filed on June 18 against US President George W. Bush, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and other leading officials of the US involved in the aggression against Iraq and Afghanistan were immediately transferred to the US where the cases are sure to be disregarded.
Nevertheless, even if the law's significance is largely symbolic, it still angers the US because it remains a means to expose the US' crimes against humanity. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has warned the Belgian government that the US would not approve funding for the new NATO headquarters in Belgium if the law is not repealed.
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