The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will soon resume hearings on the controversial National Broadband Network contract with Chinese […]
Category: Commentary
One of the major causes of the rift between President Arroyo and the Left in 2001 was the […]
Harebrained, malicious and downright fascist responses to today’s transport strike are to be expected from the usual suspects […]
Starting just about now, members of PISTON will wage a nationwide transport strike to demand an reprieve from […]
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita got a surprise from students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. Instead of […]
From the far north, the Cagayan Valley, is this video that creatively exposes abuses being suffered by the […]
Crew members of the Bloggers Kapihan today sat down with Senate star witness Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada at the comfy lounge of the La Salle Greenhills‘ Brothers’ House. Attendance: JM, Sarah, Mong, Jhay and me.
Lozada was relaxed and comfortable during our two-hour sit-down with him. He spoke intensely about the important role of young people in finding out the truth, and small and big things that have happened since he dared spoke out the truth and was –to his surprise — proclaimed a hero for doing so.
Young people, said Lozada, should step up and stake their claim the truth. He said that like political freedom, truth is not simply handed down to us. We must ask for it. We must fight for it.
Lozada said that he intends to hit the ground running at the start of the new school year; forums are now being organized in scores of schools.
My impression is that Lozada has practically launched his own movement for truth. His call is for the people to abandon the ideology of hopelessness and selfishness that is being spread by the status quo, and lay claim and build the bright future we all aspire for. His aversion to talk about any plan to run for public office sounded sincere, and stressed by way of example, that he merely wants the young people to discover that they may — or should — act and be the leaders themselves. He said he was so happy one time when he saw shirts printed with this question: “Sino ang ipapalit?” and right there on the same shirt was the answer “ako!”
Lozada was not alluding to himself. He was just saying that young people should lead the movement for change.
Below are more pictures I took during the talk:
A debate rages in the blogosphere about journalism and blogging, with partisans lobbing virtual grenades at Prof. Luis […]
People’s organizations led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan will hold a public tribute to retired Philippine Navy Captain Danilo P. Vizmanos on Monday, 3:30 pm at the mini-theater of the University of Makati.
Who is Vizmanos? Read Alex Remollino’s piece to know a bit more or this article by Bonifacio Ilagan. But better read Vizmanos’ own book titled “A Matter of Conviction”.
Vizmanos also wrote two other books: “Through the Eye of the Storm” and “Martial Law Diaries”, which he described as “a chronicle of troubled times”.
Filipino journalists mark World Press Freedom Day today, May 3, not on a cheerful note. As the Committee […]
The Department of Health has finally named five of the doctors and personnel of the Vicente Sotto Memorial […]
The doctors, nurses and staff of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center perhaps thought that the joke was on their patient who sought their professional medical expertise to remove a can of cologne spray that got into his bottom.
By taking photos and videos — unauthorized personnel allowed inside the operating room who cheered them on — the doctors and nurses thought that the patient will be the newest star and they would be starmakers! They thought they would be able to jumpstart the patient’s career as the newest internet star.
But the joke was really on the VSMMC staff.
The Arroyo government’s 44-member delegation led by Exective Secretary Eduardo Ermita will face the United Nations Human Rights […]
In its report last February 2008 or some time before the ongoing rage over the crisis in rice […]
The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan has made a preliminary study of the ongoing rice crisis which was presented to […]
The MobileActive.org community is up in arms over a subpoena issued by the New York City law department […]
When I was still in elementary school, volumes P and R of our family’s World Book encyclopedia were among the most used. Its where we could find entries on both the Philippines and rice, and I was proud to know that our country was one of the world’s biggest rice-producers.
That is of course natural because we have a predominantly agrarian economy. It does help too that my father’s family in Bulacan are rice farmers and we always see sacks upon sacks of rice in our Tatang’s place.
It is thus a shock for me and perhaps for my contemporaries (those in their late 20s and early 30s) to witness a shortage in rice supply and the government’s pathetic attempt to cover up the situation.
The shortage is real — rice prices are up to levels we haven’t seen before in entire our lives. Perhaps only our lolos and lolas who lived through World War II can beat us with stories of rice prices at more absurd levels.
Holy Week has ended but the Pinoy’s passion continues. Here’s my recap of big events that have happened recently.
A rice shortage is about to foment street riots. but the Arroyo government is solving it by lying about the problem. Prophets of neoliberalism and globalization should be made to explain why this happened, because it was they who have refused to abide by a policy of self-reliance and it was they who wished to make us hostages of the so-called world market and global supply and demand. Among these pricks, of course, is Mrs. Arroyo herself. In the meantime, prepare for the time when rice prices reach P40 a kilo.
President Arroyo also won the Supreme Court battle royale over Romulo Neri’s claim to executive privilege. But at what cost? By destroying the independence of the tribunal? Ain’t the court the only sensible government institution left — and like some Midas From Hell, Gloria Arroyo touched it and turned it into shit. House Speaker Prospero Nograles admits the SC ruling has “defanged” Congress and seems not to care about the powers of Congress in the supposed system of checks and balances.
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales is, as usual, insulting our collective intelligence when he says that “the worst is over” while other apologists and spin doctors of the administration are so happy because students are leaving school for summer.
There’s a kernel of truth about their statements, simply because students won’t be as easily mobilized for demonstrations at this time of the year. But that doesn’t mean that they will also be leaving behind their convictions and beliefs. I am sure the activist groups and the broad coalition Youth Act Now! are prepping the young people for a socially-committed summer this 2008.
Which is why I am posting this entry that outlines what youth and student organizations, barkadas ang individuals can do to maximize summer for patriotic and progressive ends. Below are my suggestions:
Manny Pacquiao won today’s fight over Juan Manuel Marquez, but I have to give it to boxing analysts […]
This is a frequent complaint against rallies: That protest actions snarl traffic flow and inconvenience motorists and commuters.
I agree.
And that’s partly why rallyists are required by law to inform authorities about their demonstrations.
The police and other law enforcers are mandated by law to react appropriately, but not to disrupt/attack the rallyists. The mandate is to respect their rights to free expression and to free assembly, and at the same time undertake measures to ease traffic flow at the perimeter of the demonstration site.
For those looking for a legal study on the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking signed between China and the […]