MANILA — As a result of its continued privatization of vital utilities and the deregulation of the oil industry, the prices of power, water. and oil have increased most rapidly during the last six years of the Arroyo administration, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation.
Press STATEMENT
20 APRIL 2007
“WE WILL FIGHT TILL THE END!”
Two decades of unwavering struggle for peoples’ rights of Lourdes Rubrico, the abducted urban poor leader in Dasmari?as who surfaced seven days after her captors freed her in the middle of the night in a shopping mall of the said municipality, made her what she is today after she decided to go after her abductors by filing a criminal and administrative suit today at 11 o’ clock in the morning before the Office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City.
Press Statement
April 20, 2007
CONVENE THE TRIPARTITE COMMITTEE NOW!
The Initiatives for International Dialogue together with its allied
networks in Mindanao and Sulu welcomes the timely call of the
Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) for an immediate ceasefire
between the AFP and MNLF in Sulu. Indeed, the ceasefire is a rational
step if only to save thousands of innocent civilian lives who might
again have to pay a high price for this pointless war. Sadly, this is
happening amidst what the OIC, the Philippine Government and the MNLF
proudly claim “the feat of peace” in the 1996 peace agreement.
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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.