MANILA — Senate Minority Leader Aquilino ?Nene? Q. Pimentel,
Jr. (PDP-Laban) today castigated Justice Secretary
Raul Gonzalez for using uncouth language during his
conversation with three visiting officials from the
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) who are conducting an
inquiry into allegations of political persecution of
leftist party-list lawmakers and other human rights
violations.
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MANILA — Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered today government troops to work on neutralizing the Abu Sayyaf Group terrorists as she condemned the beheading of the group?s seven captives in Sulu this week.
In a statement, the President said the “Abu Sayyaf?s acts of terror will not go unpunished” and that the government would deal with it as an internal security matter.
Sounds red alert over lack of environmental awareness among electoral candidates
MANILA — Environmental activists, people’s organizations, and progressive partylists today launched an Earth Day 2007 People’s Caravan from Quezon City to Manila, aiming to generate more public awareness of pressing environmental and people’s issues at stake in the 2007 national elections.
MANILA, April19 — At its meeting today, the Monetary Board decided to maintain the BSP?s key policy interest rates at 7.5 percent for the overnight borrowing or reverse repurchase (RRP) rate and 9.75 percent for the overnight lending or repurchase (RP) rate. The tiering system on bank placements with the BSP was also retained.
By Brad Glosserman
Pacific Forum
Nuclear strategy has become a core concern in the U.S.-Japan alliance. North Korea is the immediate trigger for Japanese anxiety, but similar uncertainties lie just beneath the surface when Japan contemplates China as well. U.S. assurances are needed ? both to Japan and to potential adversaries that need to be deterred. Most important, however, is a ?back to basics approach? for the U.S. and its alliance partners. Changing international circumstances and evolving domestic politics oblige Washington and its allies to focus on fundamentals of strategy to ensure that alliances have the foundation ?the common worldview ? that will allow them to survive and thrive in a new strategic environment.