Breaking News

$1-billion mining investment eyed in Mati

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Jun 08, 2007

According to officials from the mining inudstry, the Philippines’s potential for growth in the sector remains good. In fact, BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, is interested in investing up to a billion US dollars in a nickel mine project in Mati, Davao Oriental, according to Benjamin Philip Romualdez, president of the Philippine Chamber of Mines. Romualdez said at the Asia-Pacific Mining Conference in Makati City this week that foreign companies have invested nearly $700 million in the Philippines in the past three years as a result, he said, of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Mining Act of 1997 that opened the industry to foreigners. But environmentalists, who protested the conference, have warned of environmental destruction. (Photo: arkibongbayan.org)

US gives P490-million reward for Sayyaf deaths

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Jun 07, 2007

The United States embassy in Manila today gave a $10 million (at least 450 million pesos) reward to four Filipinos who provided information that led to the deaths of Abu Sayyaf leaders Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Sulaiman. It was the second-largest reward the US has given in its anti-terrorism campaign in the Philippines. Read the full story.

Nothing to celebrate for 100 years of a colonial, rubberstamp Congress

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Jun 07, 2007

Commentary | That the House leadership traces its roots to the US-created Philippine Assembly of 1907 and not to the first Malolos Congress of 1898 is a testament to the colonial mindset that has characterized the institution for the last century. From 1907 till this day, Congress’s role has been to protect the narrow foreign and elite interests. Thus, it is one of the biggest hindrances to social reform and political modernization.