MANILA — Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have become the country’s biggest source of dollars, and this has made the country among the most dependent on such inflows in the world. This was revealed during independent think-tank IBON Foundation’s Birdtalk, the organization’s year-end economic and political briefing.
If the accusation that the Arroyo administration was behind the bombings in Mindanao earlier this month turns out to be true, then this has got to be the worst scenario ever cooked up by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s military intelligence experts to justify their agenda of convincing the public of a need to pass an anti-terror measure.
Filipinos in Europe, through Migrante, welcome the call in the Philippines to encourage independent foreign observers to monitor the mid-term elections this year.
TAGUM CITY — Former Davao del Norte governor Rodolfo del Rosario, who is President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo?s adviser on New Government Centers, has said there are two big-ticket infrastructure projects in Davao del Norte that have been funded for their implementation.
Del Rosario said last week that the two ?mega-projects? are the Talaingod-Bukidnon road, which was allocated 1.2 billion pesos and the Saug River Development Project, which was given an appropriation of 700 million pesos.
A military official has said Kumander Parago, the leader of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) operating in the Davao region, is being coddled and protected by some businessmen and politicians in the region. The official said he has a list of these businessmen.