News
Victorious tactical offensives launched this August
The New People's Army (NPA) chalked up six victorious tactical offensives launched separately this August.
In Negros Oriental, two policemen were killed, including an officer, in an NPA ambush in Barangay Basak, Guihulngan in the afternoon of August 27. The slain officer was Senior Insp. Leopito Gallego, police chief of Vallehermoso town.
Meanwhile, a clash ensued between the 66th IB and PNP troops who were both sent as reinforcements. Killed in the misencounter were Senior Insp. Remil Vizcaya, Guihulngan PNP chief, and two of his men.
In Cebu, four elements of the PNP 3rd Regional Mobile Group (RMG) aboard a jeep were ambushed on August 15 in Sogod. Three of them, including acting company commander Insp. Richard Caballero, were seriously wounded in the ambuscade. The NPA seized an M16 rifle and a 9 mm pistol. The ambush was launched only one kilometer away from the PNP detachment.
In North Cotabato, a soldier from the Philippine Army 12th Special Forces Company and a CAFGU element were killed in an NPA ambush in the afternoon of August 13 in Barangay Batasan, Makilala. Three other CAFGU elements were wounded.
In Kalinga, three policemen, including an officer, were killed when their vehicle was ambushed while traversing the highway along Barangay Tangan, Payok on August 7. Killed was Senior Supt. Nestor Miranda and seriously wounded was Supt. Antonio Bumiran. The policemen were all assigned to the Cordillera PNP Special Action Force.
In Pampanga, NPA fighters seized the initiative in an encounter with patrolling soldiers from the 69th IB in the morning of August 16 in Sitio Labak, Barangay Cauayan, Mexico. Killed in the 30-minute firefight was a sergeant and a civilian agent. The NPA guerrillas safely retreated.
Meanwhile, in Davao del Norte, the NPA meted punishment on DOLE-Stanfilco for its refusal to pay revolutionary taxes. On the night of August 2, the NPA burned down DOLE-Stanfilco's packing plant in Barangay Manay, Panabo. DOLE-Stanfilco, which has huge banana plantations in Davao del Norte, is a subsidiary of the giant American corporation, Dole Food Company.
Dumagats assail destructive projects
Up to 500 Dumagats held a protest action in Lucena City on August 1 against projects destructive to the environment and their ancestral lands.
The Dumagats who belonged to the Bigkis at Lakas ng Katutubo sa Timog Katagalugan (Balatik) criticized massive logging operations undertaken by Green Square Properties Corp. in Gen. Nakar, Quezon and Dingalan, Aurora; the Kaliwa-Kanan Dam and the hydroelectric project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System in Gen. Nakar; and the Laiban Dam as well as housing projects in Tanay, Rizal.
Acquittal of Mathay and Abalos assailed
Hundreds of residents of Payatas, Quezon City picketed in front of the Sandiganbayan office on August 9 to criticize the acquittal of former Mayor Ismael Mathay Jr., former MMDA chair Benjamin Abalos and other government officials. Mathay and the others were charged in connection with the deaths of more than 50 people when their community was buried under tons of garbage in July 2000. The protest action was led by the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap and the July 10 Payatas Victims Association.
Laid off workers strike in Cavite
Twenty-six workers laid off from Sanno Philippines Manufacturing Co., a Japanese firm in Gen. Trias, Cavite staged a picket on August 12.
The workers were not reinstated despite the court's dismissal of theft charges that had been filed against them. They were laid off in the company's attempt to bust their union. Some 130 priests, nuns and seminarians supported the picket.
Debt to sustain 2003 budget
Despite the worsening national deficit, a large chunk of the proposed P804 billion budget for 2003 will be financed through borrowings. The government plans to borrow P136.6 billion, 20% bigger than this year's P113.5 billion.
The government had planned on keeping within its target deficit of P130 billion, but the deficit already reached this ceiling in the first seven months of the year. It is estimated to reach P163 billion by the end of 2002. Because of added expenditures, the actual deficit for 2003 may reach P155 billion.
Oil prices hiked anew
Petron, Shell and Caltex simultaneously imposed a 30-centavo increase on the prices of petroleum products on August 11. Other companies like Total and Eastern Petroleum later followed suit.
The move was met with criticism and protests.
3 military officials in cahoots with Abu Sayyaf
The Senate has recommended that three high-ranking officials of the AFP be court martialled for conniving with the Abu Sayyaf. The case is in connection with the bandits' dubious escape from Lamitan, Basilan in June 2001. According to the Senate's investigation, the bandits were able to escape despite the military's presence because officers in charge of the operations were in cahoots with the Abu Sayyaf. The three officers are former 1st ID and Task Force Comet commander Maj. Gen. Romeo Dominguez; former 103rd Bde chief Col. Juvenal Narcise; and former 18th IB chief Maj. Eliseo Campued.
Meanwhile, Sen. Gregorio Honasan has asserted that Defense Sec. Angelo Reyes and then AFP chief Gen. Diomedio Villanueva should also face trail for this case.
Ramos to face senate investigation
The Senate is set to investigate former president Fidel Ramos in connection with anomalous contracts entered into by the government with independent power producers (IPP) while he was still in power. The signed contracts oblige the National Power Corp. to pay for the IPP's capacity, whether or not they produce electricity.
More than half of the 48 IPP contracts were approved during Ramos' time. In exchange, he and his minions raked in millions of dollars worth of commissions and additional contracts.
To deflect public attention from himself, Ramos exposed the bribery perpetrated by the Lopezes and other businessmen at the Congress last year to ensure the passage into law of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.
NBI files raps vs. Lacson
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed perjury charges against Sen. Panfilo Lacson on August 16 in connection with his secret US bank accounts. According to the NBI, the accounts were worth a total of $1.37 million (or about P52.7 million).
Lacson did not include the real value of his properties for five years in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.
BIR chair resigns
Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) chair Rene Ba�ez resigned on August 20. Low tax collections these past months which were allegedly responsible for the growing deficit in the national budget, were blamed on his incompetence. Ba�ez in turn blamed collection shortfalls on certain officials who purposely limited tax collections for this year.
Conflicts have long been brewing between Ba�ez and the BIR employees. The employees are opposed mainly to Ba�ez's planned "reforms" stipulated in the proposed Internal Revenue Management Authority (IRMA) which will replace the BIR. IRMA will be run both by the government and the private sector. Its head will be vested with vast powers to hire and fire employees and grant incentives on the basis of an employee's records. The employees assert that Ba�ez will merely use the IRMA to set aside their right to security of tenure and dismiss from the service 6,000 employees in the name of "cleaning up the bureaucracy". The employees fear that Ba�ez will not respect even their right to receive due compensation and retirement benefits.
U.S. government sued
Americans incarcerated in concentration camps during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines from 1941 to 1945 have filed a class suit against the US government. The case was filed after it was discovered that the US purposely did not issue passports and other travel documents from 1941 to 1943 to prevent the departure of some 12,000 American civilians then living in the Philippines. The US used the anticipated abuses inflicted by the Japanese against the civilians as grounds for its decision to wage war against Japan.
U.S. seeks dismissal of case vs. Exxon Mobil
The US State Department is trying to secure a dismissal of the case filed by 11 individuals from Aceh province in Indonesia against American oil giant Exxon Mobil.
According to the plaintiffs, Exxon Mobil financed and directed Indonesian military forces to perpetrate killings, torture and rape against the people of Aceh in the 1990s to protect the company's operations in the province. Exxon Mobil mines natural gas in Aceh.
According to the US State Department, US interests and the "campaign against terrorism" would be jeopardized if the case prospers.
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