Author Archives: admin

Who will rejoice if the NPA is defeated?

Written for Bulatlat Is the military already acceding that the communist New People’s Army is the modern-day Katipunan? Because why would an army general tag Benito Tiamzon as NPA supremo when the government is adamantly insisting that the rebel group is neither revolutionary nor belligerent. In Philippine history, the only other notable supremo was Andres […]

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Singapore Criminalizes Cyber Bullying and Stalking

Written for The Diplomat Singapore’s netizens have a new legal weapon to defeat the “trolls” of the Internet after Parliament recently approved an anti-harassment law. Under the new law, anti-social acts such as cyber harassment, bullying of children, sexual harassment in the workplace, and stalking are now deemed illegal. A person found guilty of unlawful […]

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Cambodia and Indonesia in the Oscars

Written for The Diplomat Two Oscar-nominated films tackled some very controversial issues involving the modern histories of Cambodia and Indonesia. Rithy Panh’s The Missing Picture made history by becoming the first Cambodian film to be nominated for an Academy Award. Meanwhile, Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing was the documentary about Indonesia to get the […]

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The Philippines’ addiction to dirty coal and dirty politics

Published by Rappler If there is a country that needs to aggressively fight climate injustice, it must be the Philippines. Its global carbon emissions are minimal yet it is highly vulnerable to the harsh impact of extreme weather events. This was most vividly demonstrated by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) which wrought havoc in central Philippines. […]

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Didn’t we tell you that it is not a Sison revolution?

Written for Bulatlat For the longest time the military has bombarded the public with the propaganda that it is Joma Sison who is leading and controlling the Philippine revolution from his base in Western Europe. This reasoning was accepted without question by many anti-Left intellectuals and they used it to malign natdem activists for allegedly […]

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The people’s decade

Written for Bulatlat If the future generation will ask us about Philippine politics during the early years of the 21st century, what should we tell them? Perhaps some historians will name it as Erap’s decade. In 1998, Joseph Estrada became the most popular Philippine president in terms of number of votes. Two years later, he […]

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Global Spotlight on Malaysia’s Political Tragedies

Malaysia is currently confronting its worst crisis caused by its inability to explain the mysterious disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. The government in particular is accused of being less transparent in presenting updates about the search for the missing MH370. But before Malaysian gained global notoriety for mishandling the situation, it was already facing […]

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Public opinion and political truth

Written for Bulatlat Public opinion has many uses but it should neither stand for truth nor should it be equated with political standpoint. Sometimes it is overrated despite its ephemerality. Consider the examples below: – Senator Miriam Santiago is the darling of the press and social media superstar who entertains the public with her intelligent […]

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Baliktanaw sa 2013 at Pamahalaan ni BS Aquino

Taong 2013 nang tuluyang nahubaran ang rehimen ni BS Aquino bilang numero unong tuta ng imperyalismo, sagad-sagaring korap, tagapagtanggol ng interes ng malaking negosyo, at inutil sa panahon ng krisis at kalamidad. Nalantad si BS Aquino bilang hasyenderong pangulo na pabaya, arogante, at kasabwat ng mga kurakot. Dahil dito, bumuhos sa lansangan ang daan-daang libong […]

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Myanmar’s Census Controversy

Written for The Diplomat Myanmar is scheduled to hold a census next month but local and international monitoring groups are worried that it could inflame ethnic and religious tensions in the country. The census, supported by several UN agencies, is deemed important because it has been more than 30 years since a nationwide census was […]

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