CONTAK Weekly: News and Updates (December 2010)
CONTAK Philippines is committed to building solidarity linkages between the Filipino masses and ecumenical communities here and faith-based groups abroad for coordinated support to the Filipino people’s struggle against exploitation and oppression hoping thereby to contribute to the development of an international network for global transformation.
RELIGION
Bishop urges faithful to ponder poverty, injustice and
discord
MANILA,
Philippines—Filipinos should not be consumed by “illusions” brought about by
the New Year as what lies ahead for most are the same old “dehumanizing”
conditions of poverty, injustice and discord, the leader of the influential
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said Friday. READ MORE
MANILA, Dec. 12, 2010—The current dismal situation
of human rights in the country has made the Aquino government no different from
the previous administration, a group of religious and clergy said. The
convenors of Religious Discernment Group, in a statement released on Dec. 4, has
denounced the spate of human rights violations in the country. READ MORE
CBCP
backs Palace plan to let PCGG probe Arroyo
MANILA, Philippines—The Catholic
Bishops Conference of the Philippines is supportive of a Malacañang official’s
proposal to just let the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG)
handle the investigation of the alleged string of corruption cases that took
place during the Arroyo administration. READ MORE
senior official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has expressed his doubt
about the resumption of peace talks with the government by January in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, even as he has called for the release of all MILF members in
prison. READ MORE
will remain “warriors” under “Bayanihan,” the new internal peace and security
plan (IPSP) to be implemented, effective Jan. 1, 2011, despite the government’s
new tack of “winning the peace rather than simply defeating the enemy.” READ MORE
Forces Chief General Ricardo David on Thursday downplayed speculations that
there is opposition within the military ranks on the new Internal Peace and
Security Plan “Bayanihan” earlier unveiled by President Benigno Aquino III. READ MORE
AND POLITICAL
group branded the government’s 2011 budget as “anti-student, anti-people” for
bearing severe cuts in subsidies for public tertiary education and for President
Benigno Aquino III’s veto on several critical provisions. READ MORE
expressed disappointment over the P1.645-trillion budget for 2011, saying it is
“problematic in many ways” and does not address the real needs of the people.
Leonor
Magtolis-Briones, convenor of Social Watch Philippine, said signing the budget
on time was not enough. It has to be a budget whose substance will answer the
needs of the poor, she added in a statement. READ MORE
increased to 2.8 million as of October, up from 2.7 million in July, the
National Statistics Office said Wednesday. Based on the
NSO’s latest Labor Force Survey, the unemployment rate inched up to 7.1 percent
in October from 6.9 percent three months earlier. READ MORE
HUMAN
RIGHTS
the Morong 43 was to meet with a Department of Justice prosecutor at a suburban
Manila police camp Tuesday to work out the possible release of at least two
health workers still detained at the Metro Manila District Jail in Bicutan,
Taguig City, on charges other than illegal possession of firearms which the
government dropped recently. READ
MORE
43” said Friday they intend to resume their jobs as health workers among poor
communities after spending the holidays with their families, even if it means
being under the watchful eye of the military, which insists they are communist
rebels. READ MORE
justice to the victims of the 2009 Maguindanao massacre. Media
practitioners on Thursday evening took time out from the holiday rush to observe
the 13th month of the infamous Maguindanao massacre last year in which 58
people, 32 of them media workers, were killed. READ MORE