Features

The landlord-dominated Congress, led by the relatives of President Arroyo, voted Wednesday night to add five more years to the implementation of a 20-year-old agrarian-reform program that has failed to uplift the lives of peasants and farmers in the Philippines. And critics say the new proposed law is even worse than the original.

Has the VFA served its avowed purpose? Or has it only reinforced the unequal alliance between the Philippines and the United States, a relationship so tilted in the Americans' favor that to call the VFA a treaty - with all the word's connotation of equal rights, benefits and privileges - would be a travesty?

MANILA - On May 27, 1999, the Philippine Senate passed the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the United States. Then president Joseph Estrada soon after signed the agreement.

Vanessa and Gadian provide two more reasons why the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) should be abrogated and the Balikatan joint US-Philippine military exercises stopped.

Apart from adding to the burden of those who seek job abroad, the Labor Export Policy bill now pending in Congress could mean that the government will no longer generate local jobs because it would be easier to deploy them to foreign countries.

MANILA - The Philippines is one of the biggest sources of migrant labor, with about 10 percent of its population spread in countries around the world. Their billions and billions of dollars in remittances every year have helped prop up the economy and serve as a lifeline to their families back home.

NAGA CITY-Where the Naga and Bikol Rivers meet in Barangay Sabang, hook and line anglers gather from sunrise to sunset everyday to fish in the grayish black waters that have become not just cultural landmarks but also lifelines for the poor in Naga City.

One of those anglers is Roberto Magas, 35. He would come to the riverside at six o'clock the morning to catch fish for viand.

Ang nangyari sa Mayo Uno 2009 ay isa lamang yugto sa realisasyon ng manggagawa sa kanyang halaga, ang tagapag-akda ng kasaysayan. At kung ang indikasyon ay ang bilang ng nagkakaisang hanay ng manggagawa, magsasaka, estudyante, guro at intelektwal, ang estado ni Gloria Arroyo ay nangangamba na.

"Better safe than sorry."

"A pound of prevention is greater than an ounce of cure."

These are in essence what the Department and Health (DOH) and World Health Organization (WHO) are telling the country when they advice Manny Pacquiao to postpone his triumphal return to Manila after his victory over Ricky Hatton in Las Vegas, Nevada. Still, Manny Pacquiao returns to the Philippines today, offering only to go into voluntary quarantine at his home in General Santos City.

Last night, I had to buy a phone gadget in a hurry. It was eight in the evening and I had to look for a store to buy it. And look what I found---SM City Naga! The gadget I needed was right there at SM Appliances---all options and various models available at Manila prices.

The unusually heavy traffic along Panganiban avenue on a very rainy, almost stormy night courtesy of three weather disturbances around Luzon, suddenly reminded me that this was the day the much hyped grand opening of SM took place. All parking spaces outside the mall were occupied. Guards on raincoat guided us to a third-level parking area. We were told there were more parking spaces at the fourth level.

When the largest corporations began taking about the green agenda by introducing eco-friendlier products or by reducing their operations' environmental impact, many marked this as a victory in the environmental front.

There is, however, a diverse segment of economic drivers called micro, small and medium enterprises [MSMEs] who have an innate vision for improving the plight of their local economies but are also generators of environmental wastes affecting ecological issues such as climate change, hazards, water availability, among others.

Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada has been ordered arrested on perjury charges stemming from his revelation that former Arroyo spokesperson Mike Defensor offered him money to keep his mouth shut about his abduction from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport; Jovito "The Butcher" Palparan who is being linked to the spate in extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances wherever he was assigned is on his way to Congress, and so is Ma.