Linda Cadapan, who must have cried endless buckets of tears and spent long days searching and waiting for her daughter, went to Pangasinan today to check the body of a young female which is believed to be that of Sherlyn Cadapan.
Soldiers under the command of the notorious Jovito Palparan purportedly abducted Cadapan and fellow UP student Karen Empeno way back in 2006.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday (Tuesday in the US) announced the release of the 2007 human rights country reports.
Read her remarks here.
Why is this important to the Philippines? Well, US law requires the State Department to report to the US Congress on human rights adherence by countries receiving US aid, and that list includes the Philippines.
The report on the Philippines will be used as a guide by the US Congress on whether aid will be maintained, reduced or increased in the future.
We’ve been hearing the line “bring it to the courts” and similar ones like “let the rule of law prevail” and “let’s uphold the Constitution” each time the Arroyo administration is found involved in scandalous issues.
The same is true now on the issue of the Spratly Islands deal with China, as Sec. Ricardo Saludo said today:
Why does the opposition keep reporting to press statements and partisan hearings? Is it afraid of impartial due process?
Something’s terribly wrong with this propaganda line of the administration.
Marcelino Libanan, who used to chair the House justice committee, and now Bureau of Immigration chief, has rediscovered “nationalism” and ordered the deportation of a Dutch national who “insulted” the country upon arrival at the airport.
As I write this, an “open letter” is being passed and forwarded on and on in various email loops, and posted and reposted in blogs.
The letter is a compelling read, perhaps written when the author felt her rage already boiling against President Arroyo, and which gives us a sense of hope that there’s life after GMA and that we can do it by ourselves and without her and her sindikatong pamilya. The letter also reflects that middle class’ sense of very deep frustration over Arroyo, and the slow but sure radicalization. It is good news because we cannot survive as a nation with an apathetic, cynical and pro-Arroyo middle class.
The writer laments that the status quo has adopted this motto and battlecry: “Rob the poor, moderate the greed of the rich.”
Please take time to read and then forward and repost if you feel like it.
To all Filipinos Everywhere:
I used to think that corruption and criminality in the Philippines were caused by poverty. But recent events tell me this isn’t true. It is one thing to see people turn into drug addicts, prostitutes, thieves and murderers because of hunger and poverty, but what excuse do these rich, ducated people have that could possibly explain their bizarre behavior? And to think I was always so relieved when petty snatchers got caught and locked away in jail because I never fully realized that the big time thieves were out there, making the laws and running our country. Can it get any worse than this?
Although forced by circumstances to seek political asylum, Prof. Jose Maria Sison continues to offer his advice and analyses both as chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front negotiating panel, and as chair of the International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS).
In this statement, Sison not only says that Arroyo and her troops are terrified by the prospect of a huge turnout, but that the magnitude of the crowds that will gather at Ayala will offer us a preview of the end of the mafia.
Sison also says that the communists will be joining the rally, as a matter of right and of principle. But he slaps the hysterical duo of the PNP and AFP with this statement: Contrary to claims of the Arroyo regime, there will be no armed units of the New People’s Army in the the mass protest mass actions. It is the long-held principle of the CPP, NPA and NDFP to uphold the right of the people to speak and assemble peacefully as well as to respect the legal and defensive character of protest mass actions in urban areas.
Below is Sison’s full statement:
Press Statement
29 February 2008THE MAGNITUDE OF THE PROTEST MASS ACTIONS TODAY
WILL INDICATE HOW CLOSE IS THE END OF THE ARROYO REGIME
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
NDFP Chief Political Consultant
Chairperson, International League of Peoples’ StruggleThe magnitude of the protest mass actions today will indicate how close is the end of the Arroyo regime. If the level of 50,000 to 100,000 protest demonstrators is reached at the focal point in the national capital region, then we can hope that in the near future we can reach the level of hundreds of thousands or a million demonstrators that will certainly persuade the bureaucracy and the military to withdraw support from the Arroyo regime.
The fake and corrupt president and her retinue of spin doctors and bloodthirsty ruffians in the military and police are terrified that a great number of people will rise up today. Thus, they are trying hard to dissuade the people from joining the protest mass actions through deceptive statements, scare tactics, intimidation and actual plans to prevent or disrupt the assembly, marches and convergence of the outraged masses of the people.
Found on the web is this piece inspired by Death Note: Click on the GIF photo to see […]
From the email loop, this Q&A comes from AGHAM:
Bakit babagsak si GMA sa Physics?
Dahil ang RELATIVITY sa kanya ay ilagay si FG at kamaganak sa pwesto para makapagnegosyo.Why will GMA fail in chemistry?
Because she does not know any SOLUTION, only a lot of corruption.Why will GMA fail in mining engineering?
Because she has underMINED the people’s trust.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has upped the ante of her efforts to berate and demonize “People Power” in a vain effort to protect her isolated leadership. Scared sh*t-less that she may be deposed by an indirect action of the people, she now goes around proselytizing her most undemocratic views on uprisings.
Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada and Jose “Joey” de Venecia III have provided the strongest and most damning proof yet of acts of high corruption by President Arroyo’s husband, the former Commission on Elections chair and perhaps the president herself. The people are naturally incensed.
Now, the government has seen it fit to terrorize the people about the purported ill effects of People Power when all it wants to say is this: Yes, we are corrupt but don’t ever think of doing what you did to Marcos and Estrada.
But I ask: Why not?
That’s according to witness Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada and Albay Gov. Joey Salceda. For starters, here’s a visual from […]
Yesterday, more than 40 national youth organizations, student councils and publications, and various types of youth groups formally announced the formation of YOUTH ACT NOW, a new coalition out to do some serious battle with the forces of evil led by President Arroyo.
If you are interested to join, please send an email to youth.act.now at gmail dot com.
Here is their “unity statement”, which I publish here in full for posterity:
I am reprinting in full an “open letter” by the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) on the raging crisis of the Arroyo presidency.
NAFCON recently figured as the prime mover of protests against the racist slur on Filipinos in an episode of popular soap Desperate Housewives. It describes itself as “a national multi-issue alliance of Filipino organizations and individuals in the US serving to protect the rights and welfare of Filipinos by fighting for social, economic, and racial justice and equality”.
After the Desperate Housewives, NAFCON directs its guns on the Desperate Household of the Arroyos.
To its own credit, the Arroyo administration has been successful in agitating Filipinos to rebel against its brazen corruption and cover up.
With President Arroyo refusing the face the media and the public, as well as the Ombudsman, to answer questions on her role in the ZTE-NBN scandal, more Filipinos are now ready to take to the streets in protest.
Thanks to the creativity of Pinoys, we can now find, download and use new political ringtones that express […]
Do you think the government has already have enough supply of “hot air” and foul jokes courtesy of […]
US writers are coming back to work Wednesday after voting to end their strike. We will know in […]
ABS-CBN News yesterday carried a story on sociologist Josephine Aguilar’s claim that “People Power fatigue” afflicts Filipinos.
Aguilar reportedly said that:
People power fatigue na nga ito. Kapag kinausap mo ang mga tao napapagod na sila dahil paulit-ulit ang nangyayari at pare-pareho din ang mga taong involved, malalaking tao. (This is people power fatigue. If you would talk to the people, they would say they are already tired because [these kind of controversies] are just going in circles, with the same people involved, big people)
Aguilar failed to count in her analysis the genuine fatigue felt by the people: We have had enough of the mafiosi way the government is running the country and that we are sick and tired of President Arroyo.
In response, I am republishing a piece I wrote in 2005 titled On the sham idea of “People Power fatigue”:
Palace propagandists who spread the yarn “People Power fatigue” opportunistically forget to mention or refuse to admit that their principal Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was catapulted to office by the second People Power uprising in 2001.
They also fail to mention that it is a universally-acknowledged right of peoples and nations to form new governments and consequently demolish existing governments that they deem to be unfit, unwanted or oppressive.
Moreover, they use the Constitution as a shield from attempts by the real Sovereign power — the Filipino people themselves — when the latter flex their muscles and press their demand for Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s removal from power.
It is also obvious that they have no qualms (mis)using People Power for their own benefit. They proclaim as bogus People Power the anti-Arroyo demonstrations that are fast catching fire across the country, while declaring as genuine the pro-Arroyo mobilizations mounted by national and local government executives who require state employees, students of state schools and groups of persons to attend the rally and sing paeans to their beleaguered leader.
Let’s see what President Arroyo will say or do when thousands march to the streets anew on Friday.
I expect a mammoth crowd especially since this will be the first protest action since Jun Lozada escaped his kidnappers and testified before the Senate.
The Makati Business Club will reportedly encourage company owners to suspend work on by mid-afternoon of Friday so they and their employees could join the demonstration:
Here’s some fresh news from Malaya:
MBC calls for Neri, Atienza resignation
By ASHZEL HACHEROTHE Makati Business Club yesterday called for the resignation of Environment Secretary Lito Atienza and acting Commission on Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri, saying they have lost their “moral authority” to stay in their posts because of their involvement in Malacañang’s attempt to prevent Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada from appearing before the Senate inquiry into the national broadband network scandal.
The MBC also expressed support for planned mass actions calling for President Arroyo’s ouster but stopped short of calling for her resignation. Such call is a major step that “the group is not prepared at this time to take,” said Alberto Lim, MBC executive director.
The United Opposition and militant groups on Monday announced plans for a series of mass actions calling for Arroyo to resign.
One of the interesting parts of Engr. Jun Lozada’s testimony today was the wiretapping on his phones and […]
Engr. Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada is still answering questions at the Senate hearing, and I am certain many Filipinos […]
I have to agree with Erwin Oliva who, writing for the Inquirer.net, says that videos have become a […]
Honestly, I don’t want to sleep tonight but I need to. I am all too excited about the […]