ADVERTISEMENT
By RONALYN V. OLEA
In 2009, the landlord-dominated Philippine Congress extended the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program for another five years. Did the landed legislators, among them President Arroyo's close relatives, go against their interests in passing CARPER? Or did they simply lengthen the agony of Filipino peasants, given that the new program seems worse than the original?
By MARYA SALAMAT
The year 2009 began, ended and paved the way to 2010 with the festering problem of joblessness for millions of Filipinos. The global financial crisis only revealed the stark reality of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s inherently flawed job-generation strategies. The Arroyo regime fell short of its employment target. Worse, thousands of jobs, especially in the export industry, were "massacred" in 2009 even as unionists faced violence, intimidation and murder.
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
The regime of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo changed the face of labor migration in the Philippines. It pursued its labor-export policy aggressively, begging receiving countries to accept more overseas Filipino workers. In the meantime, it shirked its responsibilities toward OFWs in distress, in many instances even becoming complicit in the abuse of overseas workers.
By BENJIE OLIVEROS
While it would take more than a change in president to effectively address the worsening economic and political crisis, if Arroyo and her minions are able to get away with keeping themselves in power -- by declaring a failure of elections, martial law, or charter change -- the Filipino people would sink faster and deeper into the quagmire of backwardness and poverty.
In this audio clip, Edita Burgos, the mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos, talks about her recent trip to Europe where she brought her campaign to force the Philippine government to surface her son. She also talks about the human-rights situation in the Philippines and why President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a "bad mother" to the Filipino people. 
Listen now
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
The failure of investigators to secure the crime scene, the apparent contamination of forensic evidence, and the weak rebellion case filed against the perpetrators have led people to believe that there is a high probability that the Ampatuan clan would walk away with the murder of 57 people, even as the case has generated a strong international concern.
By ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO The Ampatuans' rise to the peak of political power was in no small part due to their ties with the military. In a most ironic twist, the military proposed the extension of martial law in Maguindanao until the 2010 elections purportedly to teach the Ampatuans “how to run peaceful and credible elections.”
A former chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), who is also one of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's most trusted men, is one of the directors of a big mining company that operates in a number of provinces, among them Bukidnon, which is one of the provinces where several indigenous-peoples' communities are suffering under a reign of terror perpetrated by the military and paramilitary groups.
By ARNOLD PADILLA
Underneath the never-ending and intensifying political conflict is the permanent and worsening crisis of the economy. The raging economic crisis feeds the growing dispute among the various factions of the political elite contending for control of political power and monopoly of economic spoils – a conflict that has become more pronounced and increasingly vicious under the nine-year old Arroyo administration.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Noriel Rodriguez, a member of Anakbayan, was tortured for 10 days by people he claimed to be soldiers. The soldiers, he said, threatened to harm his family and mutilate his genitals. He was released only after he was forced to sign papers stating that he was a rebel returnee. 
Related video: Noriel Rodriguez recounts his ordeal
The Cordillera region is not spared from state-perpetuated and state-supported political violence, according to the CPA, citing the provinces of Abra, Apayao and Kalinga as having a history of election-related and politically motivated killings and other forms of violence allegedly allowed to happen through powerful politicians and warlords with goons and private armies.
By AYI MUALLAM
On Wednesday, hundreds of Filipino journalists and activists, along with several of their colleagues from other countries, marched to Mendiola to mark the "Global Day of Action Against Impunity." The journalists and activists demanded an end to impunity and blamed the Arroyo regime for the rash of killings of activists and journalists nationwide. Listen now
By ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
As foreign mining investments continue to encroach into Lumad lands in Northern Mindanao, the military, through its Oplan Bantay Laya, intensifies its campaign to stifle local opposition to these companies. A fact-finding mission found that so far this year, 13 Lumads have been summarily executed while more were tortured and harassed by soldiers and fellow Lumads co-opted by the military.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Two months after the International Labor Organization conducted a fact-finding mission in the Philippines, labor-rights violations escalate in the Philippines, as highlighted by the death of Danilo Belano, a long-time labor organizer, who died while being tailed and harassed by military agents.
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Kabataan says the youth have an important role in the coming elections as more than 40 percent of the voters are young Filipinos. "The youth can even dictate who they want to win in the May 2010 elections," says Rep. Raymond Palatino.
Arroyo's Complicity in Ampatuan Massacre
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Of the 284 political prisoners in the Philippines, 257 were arrested and detained under the present regime’s Oplan Bantay Laya. In a statement, Selda said the militarist approach of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has scuttled the peace talks between the government and the Moro secessionist groups in Mindanao and the New People’s Army.
Text and photos by JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
It is important not to compromise their principles, the two “senatoriables” from the progressie sector said. Since one of their platforms is good governance, part of it is holding public officials -- either past or present -- accountable. This includes achieving justice for the victims of human-rights violations under the Marcos dictatorship.
A community of readers and supporters that help us sustain our operations through microdonations for as low as $1.
Save as PDF