MANILA — Since Camille, not her real name, left for Saudi Arabia in May 14, 2009, she has encountered numerous hardships one after another. Barely three months into her job as a janitor in a dental clinic in Dammam, Camille was raped by her Bangladeshi coworker. She got pregnant as a result. Accused of...

MANILA — “Is Jakatia still alive?” Migrante International, the progressive group that advocates the rights of overseas Filipino workers, asked this question last week, referring to Jakatia Pawa, an overseas Filipino worker who had been sentenced to die in Kuwait. On Jan. 19, Kuwait’s highest court...

MANILA — “It is cold in Macau,” Herman Vendiola, 52, said before recalling his life in the gambling capital of Asia. In some ways, he said, the thought of the climate there heightens his sense of dread each time he speaks about what he and others had to go through. Vendiola left his home in Pagbilao,...

NAGA CITY– They left Davao City bearing meager belongings: a bagful of clothes good for ten days, a lunchbox and a cup. They had to leave their fields, their families for a mission — to bring their woes for land and justice and call the attention of the national government. The delegates of the...

MANILA — A witness to the recent massacre of 57 people in the southern Philippines testified Wednesday that the principal suspect in the case, a town mayor, shot several of the victims himself and that the mayor’s father, the patriarch of a powerful political clan once allied with President Gloria...

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/13 January) – The Davao City-based lead lawyer of the Ampatuans wants former Defense Secretary, now the ruling party’s Presidential bet, Gilbert Teodoro, charged for rebellion like the Ampatuans for the Department of National Defense’s alleged involvement in proving the firearms...

MANILA — Jan. 22, 2010, would mark the 23rd anniversary of the Mendiola massacre. On that fateful day, thousands of farmers marched to Mendiola to demand for land reform and were mowed down by gunfire from soldiers from the Philippine Marines and the police. Yet, more than two decades later, those...

MANILA — A nationwide gun ban took effect Sunday in the Philippines to stave off any increase in political violence as elections draw closer, officials said. Elections in the Philippines are almost always bloody, mainly because of the dominance of political dynasties, the presence of nearly 70 private...

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5 December 2009 We absolutely oppose the imposition of martial law in Maguindanao and, prospectively, anywhere else in the country. We believe that, with the severe restrictions on freedoms it imposes, on the one hand, and the wide latitude of police, military, and official powers it allows, on the other,...

(Text of martial law declaration as read by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita at 7 a.m. Saturday, December 5, in Malacanang. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed the proclamation on Friday, December 4.) Proclamation 1959: Proclaiming a State of Martial Law and suspending the privilege of the writ of...

By Alex Tizon Knight International Journalism Fellow Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism Posted By Davao Today THE BODY count of the Maguindanao Massacre has gone up each of the past five days. The count is now at 57, with authorities continuing to sift through the blood-soaked dirt just outside...

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison Chairperson International League of Peoples’ Struggle The International Coordinating Committee and all member-organizations of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) condemn with all their moral conviction and strength the monstrous massacre of at least 57 people,...

The brutal, indiscriminate mass murder on Monday in Ampatuan town, in Maguindanao province, raises the ultimate challenge of conscience. It carries the culture of impunity at work in this country to such levels of horror that, if it remains unpunished for long,  can send the nation into an inexorable...

(compiled by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines) Koronadal City 1.        Adolfo, Benjie, Gold Star Daily, Koronadal City 2.        Bataluna, Rubello, Gold Star Daily, Koronadal City 3.        Cachuela, Hannibal, Punto News, Koronadal City 4.        Legarte,...

By CHERYLL D. FIEL Davao Today DAVAO CITY– After the mass murder that killed 57 people, 21 of them women, Moro residents in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao have remained largely silent, perhaps dumbfounded, at the extent of the atrocities. “But it does not mean that they wanted these things to...

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MANILA — T’is the season to start cheating? Three big partylist groups have questioned the Comelec’s efficiency, fairness, accuracy and capacity to respect, uphold and promote the law, particularly that of the partylist system and in allowing representation for the marginalized. This developed as...

MANILA — The more your hear and see the less you know. This seems to best describe what politicians articulate during press conferences and say in public, the current leading candidates for president included. They seem merely content with vague slogans: for Sen. Noynoy Aquino – “pagbabago” (change),...

MANILA — As expected, Malacañang lifted the freeze order it imposed on pump prices of oil in calamity-hit Luzon, just over three weeks after President Gloria macapagal-Arroyo issued the controversial Executive Order (EO) 839. It was actually a double whammy because she also ended the price control on...

In light of the death toll from Monday’s election violence, now over 40, political warlordism looms large. By Carlos H. Conde GlobalPost.com Published: November 24, 2009 10:17 ET Posted by Davao Today MANILA, Philippines — Political violence on a scale never seen before has rocked the Philippines, with...

By CHERYLL D. FIEL Davao Today DAVAO CITY (davaotoday.com) � Yellow ribbons hung in tricycles, jeepneys and private cars; gigantic yellow cloths rolled out in schools, malls and buildings on the day that former President Corazon Aquino was buried. While members of the Davao�s Yellow Friday Movement brought...

Written by IBON Media Majority of Filipinos do not favor amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution and believe that Charter change (Cha-cha) seeks to extend the President�s term in office, according to the latest IBON nationwide survey. Read...