By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star One can understand Andres Bautista’s deep frustration in wanting to abolish the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which he has headed since October 2010, although — or because — it has failed to accomplish its two-pronged mandate, 27 years after President Cory Aquino created…
Year: 2013
Phaseout of older AUV not for cleaner air but for profits?
By MARYA SALAMAT
“No driver in his or her right mind would turn down a new vehicle unit if it were affordable. But the government has no program to help them avail of vehicles that would pass the government’s supposed environmental requirements.” – George San Mateo, Piston Party-list
‘Super body’ on killings convenes; rights groups not pleased
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“The super body’s definition [of extrajudicial killings] is strained and will blur and smokescreen extrajudicial killings, skirt impunity issues and even make scapegoats with the body’s distractive and confused ostensible functions.” – National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers
State of press freedom: Attacks and threats in 2012
By MELANIE PINLAC Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility The failure of the Benigno Aquino III administration to stop the killing of journalists and to speed up the prosecution of cases in court has disappointed journalists, press freedom defenders—and those who have been demanding justice for their slain kin. Nothing to celebrate Compared to 2011,…
‘Lawmakers, people like me should follow Ka Bel’s example’ – Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim
‘Lawmakers, people like me should follow Ka Bel’s example’ – Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim (Photo by Marya Salamat / Bulatlat.com)
Release of P140 million pork barrel fund for Akbayan representative slammed
By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com MANILA – Last year the currently incumbent partylist Akbayan came under fire from critics. With Akbayan leaders enjoying key appointive positions in the Aquino cabinet and its partylist receiving or taking care of millions of government funds, questions are lodged over whether it was indeed “marginalized.” Despite this, Akbayan leaders continue…
The costs of the Aquino government’s K to 12 program
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL Bulatlat.com MANILA – Being touted as the main education reform program of the Aquino government, the K to 12 program is already in its second phase of implementation. How did it impact on the country’s deteriorating public school system? Last June 2012, the Department of Education implemented the first phase…
Now you see them, now you don’t, but G.I. Joes are here to stay, no thanks to the Aquino government
By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com MANILA – Tensions at the West Philippine Sea have been hitting the headlines since last year. President Benigno Aquino III has been blowing hot and cold over the issue: at times saber-rattling, begging the US to deploy more troops and ‘defend the Philippines against China,’ then calling for diplomatic measures to…
On Aquino’s mid-term, tillers in Luisita, elsewhere still landless
By RONALYN V. OLEA Bulatlat.com MANILA — The year 2012 would have been joyous for the farmers of Hacienda Luisita, the vast sugar plantation controlled by President Benigno Aquino III’s family for nearly five decades. Aquino himself, during the campaign period in 2010, vowed to distribute the land by 2014. In April, the Supreme Court…
Health for sale
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL and BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com MANILA –When the Aquino administration took over the reins of government, the public health system was festering and the poor’s access to essential health services has been getting worse. Ibon Foundation’s data showed that only two out of 10 among the poor have access to free…
Political prisoner Alan Jazmines visits mother’s wake
Political prisoner Alan Jazmines visits mother’s wake (Photo by Pom Cahilog-Villanueva / Bulatlat.com)