In Philippines, president?s husband withdraws 46 libel suits

New York ?Jose Miguel Arroyo, husband of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, has withdrawn 46 criminal libel suits he had filed against 11 journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed today?s news but said the suits should never have been brought.

(more…)

Continue ReadingIn Philippines, president?s husband withdraws 46 libel suits

Surveillance, abductions: Bayan bucks emerging police state in Philippines

The umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) was not the least surprised that the phone of former president Corazon Aquino was bugged.

?We are not surprised. Killings, abductions, surveillance; these are clear signs that we are now living in a police state. All our movements are being watched by a paranoid and unstable government. Just imagine how things will be when the anti-terror law is implemented in July,? said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.

(more…)

Continue ReadingSurveillance, abductions: Bayan bucks emerging police state in Philippines

Philippines’s First Gentleman drops all defamation suits against journalists

Reporters Without Borders today welcomed the news that Mike Arroyo, the husband of President Gloria Arroyo, has decided to drop all law suits against the country’s journalists and publishers.

The worldwide press freedom organisation hailed the exemplary campaign waged by Philippines’ journalist organisations and called for press offences to be decriminalised.
(more…)

Continue ReadingPhilippines’s First Gentleman drops all defamation suits against journalists

Thanks to Army, ComVal Remains ‘Valley of Death,’ Karapatan

DAVAO CITY — Compostela Valley Province still bears the name it earned a long time ago for what could only be blamed on the military — the Valley of Death, the human-rights group Karapatan said.

This, the group said, is a result of the continued rule of military brutality and fascism in the area under 1001st Brigade-Philippine Army (PA) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
(more…)

Continue ReadingThanks to Army, ComVal Remains ‘Valley of Death,’ Karapatan