Month: August 2006

Speech of former Senator Wigberto Tañada at a conference on “Implications of Liberalizing the Economic Provisions of the Constitution”, organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) last July 14.

Tañada is a lead convenor of the Fair Trade Alliance (FTA), a broad multisectoral coalition of formal and informal labor, industry, agricultural, non-governmental organizations, and youth pushing for trade and economic reforms.

Let me directly share with you three major points on the issue at hand.

One, amending the Constitution to make it responsive to the development requirements of a country is the sovereign right of the people. However, the present charter-change initiative has become controversial not only because the process being used is infirm but also because it is not clear if such initiative is truly in response to the development needs of the people or if it is merely a grand design to promote the narrow self-serving agenda of some politicians.

Gloria Arroyo’s bulldozer team wasted no time incrashing the seven impeachment complaints against her. Only one left. The one lodged by the Black and White Movement led by former social welfare secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman.

We have no illusions about the fate of the impeachment complaint in Arroyo-controlled Lower House.

But let us make known to them what we feel and what we expect of them.

This is the illustration in the Supermaid advertisement of Tesda (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) in the Manila Bulletin last Sunday.

What do you think?Take note of X-men costume of Gloria Arroyo.

The acceptance of former Budget Secretary Emy Boncodin of a seat in Petron has been exploited to the hilt by Malacañang spinning it as a return to their fold. It will be recalled that Boncodin was one of the Hyatt 10, Arroyo’s cabinet members who resigned and called for her resignation last year following the expose of the Hello Garci tapes.

We know Emy is not in the best of health. She has her reasons to accept the Petron seat.

We are reproducing here her statement issued on the article that appeared in the Philippine Star. We are also reproducing the twin statements from Malacañang on her.

An Open Invitation to All in Commemorating and Giving Tribute to Ninoy Aquino and to All Victims of Political Killings under Arroyo Regime

“Filipinos are worth dying for” is the most famous quotation from Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino who was shot dead last August 21, 1983. Ninoy is the most prominent anti-dictatorship victim of political killings and three years after his death the first people power dismantled the Marcos dictatorship that provides a democratic space in the Philippines.

Today more than twenty years have passed and almost all what Filipinos have gained in building a democratic society has been taken away by a new tyrant government under the current Arroyo regime. As of this day 717 Filipino journalists, lawyers, church people, activists and others who works for human rights were killed.