Tag Archives: duterte

Extrajudicial Killings Go Beyond Duterte’s Drug War

By admin | January 13, 2018

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has gained global notoriety for launching a bloody “war on drugs” that has already killed more than two thousand Filipinos in less than a year. But the number of killings since Duterte assumed power could be higher if we include the victims of the government’s “all-out war” against communist rebels. The […]

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2016: A Year of Peculiar and Dangerous Living in the Philippines

By admin | December 30, 2017

Published by Manila Today Here are the top people’s issues and people’s struggles of 2016. 1. Repudiation of Daang Matuwid The defeat of the Liberal Party’s presidential candidate reflected the seething rage of the people toward the corrupt, inept and callous regime of Daang Matuwid. President Noynoy Aquino started his term in 2010 with a […]

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Duterte’s Unfinished Wars in the Philippines

By admin | December 24, 2017

Over the past few weeks, we have seen a number of bold announcements from the government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte about the state of conflicts in the country that may in fact belie their actual status and broader significance. Last week, after five months, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared the “liberation” of Marawi City, […]

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Rodrigo Duterte is far from the President he promised to be

By admin | November 17, 2017

Published by Channel News Asia Almost one year since Duterte took over as the Philippines’ President, he continues to enjoy high popularity ratings, despite having a reported reputation as a misogynist and harbouring a questionable attitude towards the importance of human lives. His crime-fighting agenda may have earned him significant political brownie points before he […]

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Is the Philippines’ Duterte Forming a Junta?

By admin | October 24, 2017

After naming a general as his next secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte quipped that he will soon establish a junta and allow the military to take over the country. Duterte may be joking but for some of his critics, there’s nothing funny about an idea that […]

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An Unofficial Guide to Understanding the Socio-Economic Proposals of Filipino Communists

By admin | October 1, 2017

Published by Bulatlat The most important peace document submitted by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines contains seven parts and is 82 pages long. Here’s a summary of the proposed Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms or CASER: The preamble links the country’s economic backwardness to its colonial history. But it also highlights […]

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Lingering Questions Remain on Duterte’s Martial Law in the Philippines

By admin | September 14, 2017

According to the 1987 Constitution, Congress is supposed to convene a joint session in order to review the government’s martial law proclamation. But leaders of both houses of Congress said a joint session is unnecessary since the majority are supporting the president’s decision anyway. This is unfortunate, since there are questions related to martial law […]

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Why the Philippines’ Duterte Should Rethink the Vice Presidency

By admin | September 1, 2017

Various political analysts and commentators have already shared their views on Rodrigo Duterte’s first year as president of the Philippines. But so far, only a few have said something about Vice President Leni Robredo’s first year in office. Those unfamiliar with the Philippine political system might ask the relevance of discussing Robredo’s performance as vice […]

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What Does Duterte’s Martial Law Mean for the Philippine Peace Process?

By admin | August 9, 2017

Though it is still early days, what has been the impact of the Mindanao-wide martial law on these ongoing peace initiatives thus far? Since the declaration of martial law, most of the headlines have been devoted to the Maute group and the ISIS threat in the Philippines, while very little has been discussed about its […]

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Back-to-basics grassroots organizing in the time of Duterte

By admin | July 21, 2017

*Summary of my contributed essay to the workshop organized by the Third World Studies Center of the University of the Philippines-Diliman and the Conflict Research Group of the Ghent University. The workshop’s theme is “Politics and Power in the Philippines: Towards a Contemporary Research Agenda”. Published by Bulatlat Political forces vie for national dominance but […]

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