By ANTONIO ZUMEL I WAS BORN to Antonio Zumel and Basilisa (Bessie) de Leon in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte on Aug. 10, 1932. My father was a lawyer while my mother used to be a schoolteacher. I am the second of their six children — three boys and three girls. My father...
In the Philippine military, it has been customary to send errant soldiers (“scalawags” in the AFP jargon) to Mindanao for tougher assignments. Col. Jovito Palparan, Jr. is however considered an asset to government’s counter-insurgency campaign and has been promoted...
By Eric Margolis The Toronto Sun 12 September 2004 Three years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, America's politicians and media continue to gravely deceive the public about the so-called war on terrorism. Now the definitive book on terrorism has appeared that...
By Scott Johnson and Babak Dehghanpisheh Newsweek September 20 2004 Issue As Americans debate Vietnam, the U.S. death toll tops 1,000 in Iraq. And the insurgents are still getting stronger. Iraqis don't shock easily these days, but eyewitnesses could only blink in...
As she herself admits, Joan Carling - chair of the Cordillera Peoples? Alliance - felt no pride in having been born of Cordillera?s indigenous peoples when she was younger. But she would reach a point from which there was no turning back, and now she is a prominent...
Bullets from a .45 caliber pistol claimed the life of yet another journalist, the 74th since 1986 when democracy was supposedly restored in the country. By Bulatlat.com Eliseo “Ely” Binoya, station manager and commentator of the Manila Broadcasting Corp. affiliate...
Just how widespread was fraud and violence in the recently held national and local elections? Data gathered by the Patriots revealed the credibility of the elections is now questionable and that the proclamation of supposed winning presidential and vice...
The fate of Iraq is now being compared to what the Philippines had gone through in the hands of the U.S. Despite the expected fanfare amid the U.S. handover of sovereignty to Iraq on June 30, peace advocates are repudiating this event as nothing more than...
The just released April 2004 employment figures, including nearly 5 million Filipinos without work, affirm the dismal failure of government economic policy. By Sandra Nicolas Bulatlat.com When the National Statistics Office released the latest Labor Force Survey...
In the age of globalization, nationalization is seen as anathema to “development.” However, the current spate of oil price hikes warrants a re-examination of the concept of nationalization of the downstream oil industry to ensure affordability and accessibility of...
Teachers trained under Makabayan subjects, who are “not well-equipped with teaching competencies in Math, Science and English,” are being assigned to the controversial Bridge Program, a teacher leader reveals. “Paano magagawa ng Bridge Program ang pagpapahusay sa...
Education Secretary Edilberto de Jesus admits that shortages in classrooms and teachers throughout the country have increased to 42,641 and 51,319, respectively. Fifty percent of public schools, he said, have no principals at all. Meanwhile, students threaten to...
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines will host the Tolerance Prize for Southeast Asia administered by the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). The awarding will be held on June 25 at the Westin Philippine Plaza Hotel in...
During the February-May campaign period, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo promised power consumers the lowest electricity rates in Southeast Asia. But with the impending increases in Meralco rates and Napocor generating charges, and the forthcoming removal of the...
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) says that another year in high school could cost a family from P8,000 to P10,000 ($143.16 to $178.95, based on an exchange rate of P55.88 for every U.S. dollar). Computed for 10 months or 205 days with classes, a student...
Nearly 400 school children failed to enroll in Tuba, Benguet when the two schools in the area funded by a mining corporation refused to admit children of former employees. By ALDWIN QUITASOL Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat.com BAGUIO CITY — Philex Mining...
The country’s consumer price index (CPI) shows that as of May this year prices have increased so much since 1994 that the value of the Philippine peso has fallen by almost half. By DANILO ARAÑA ARAO Bulatlat.com The bad news is that with the exception of wages,...
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her supporters cannot just sit back as if all’s well with the world. Those crying fraud appear to have a convincing case in their hands and the administration is not helping matters by glossing over allegations of fraud. By...
A Filipino migrant in the U.S. castigates Philippine media for “forgetting to mention historical events that led to the fall of Faustino Dy Jr. from power.” By Arturo P. Garcia Bulatlat.com After the much-delayed proclamation of the new Isabela governor Ma. Gracia...
After being forced by the military to sign a statement saying that an encounter between government troops and communist guerillas led to the killing of two minors last May in Sorsogon, village head Eduardo Adamos finally tells what happened on that fateful day:...
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