When television journalist Atom Araullo won a landmark P2-million defamation lawsuit last December for being Red-tagged by Jeffrey Celiz and Lorraine Badoy-Partosa, Celiz was unmoved and vowed to “persevere” in fighting “communist terrorism.” “I shall not waver in this patriotic cause that I willingly and voluntarily embraced,” said the 53-year-old, who claims to be a former...
Author: Oliver Teves (Oliver Teves)
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Retired ICC judge Raul Pangalangan: The Court has ‘jurisdiction over jurisdiction’
The arrest and dispatch to The Hague of former president Rodrigo Duterte on March 11 stunned many Filipinos, not least his family members and their ardent supporters. For some relatives of the victims of his “war on drugs” watching the historic daylong event on television in real time was like an Edsa 1986 moment: They...
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To remember and preserve the legacies of Ninoy, Cory and Noynoy Aquino
TARLAC CITY, TARLAC—A crowd of more than 200 people showed up at the reopening of the Aquino Center and Museum on Feb. 24, the eve of the 39th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution. Family members, friends and admirers of the late anti-dictatorship and democracy icons, former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and former...
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Atom Araullo’s victory over Red-taggers also a win for others
Television journalist Atom Araullo and his lawyers said his landmark legal victory against Red-tagging can be used by other journalists and activists similarly victimized to thwart this dangerous labelling that opens them to various forms of harassment and intimidation. Araullo, 41, a multiawarded documentarist, won a P2-million civil lawsuit for damages against ex-anticommunist task force...
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UP admin and University Council still at odds on UP-AFP accord
Editor’s Note: This report, originally run on Sept. 26, 2024, has been updated with interviews with the UP president and vice president for academic affairs. More than a month since the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) signed a “declaration of cooperation” (DOC) to conduct joint strategic research,...
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UP University Council thumbs down declaration of cooperation between UP and AFP
It has been more than a month since the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) signed a “declaration of cooperation” (DOC) to conduct joint strategic research, and even before the first research topic was announced, the University Council (UC) of UP Diliman put its foot down on the...
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Atin Ito marchers denounce China’s ‘acts of aggression’
On the eve of the 126th anniversary of Philippine Independence, hundreds of activists, fishers and their supporters marched to the Chinese consulate in Makati City in protest against China’s incursions into the West Philippines (WPS), warning Beijing not to underestimate the Filipinos’ resolve to resist foreign aggressors. “China will not intimidate us,” said Akbayan Party...
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Jubilation, relief, and a little disappointment on the West Philippine Sea
Jubilant, relieved, but a bit disappointed at not coming close to Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal. That was how some people felt at the end of last week’s small flotilla of the “Atin Ito” coalition that had for its mission to supply food and fuel to fishermen at Bajo de Masinloc...
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‘Atin Ito’ heads back; ‘Mission accomplished!’
ABOARD THE FB AGUIAN—With at least three Chinese Coast Guard ships threatening their main convoy of four fishing boats flying Philippine flags, “Atin Ito” leaders decided on Thursday not to pursue its final task of resupplying Filipino fishers at Bajo de Masinloc (also known as Scarborough Shoal and Panatag Shoal). The seeming premature end of...
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‘Atin Ito’s’ mission is for Philippine sovereign rights and a rules-based global order
BOTOLAN, Zambales—The fight of Filipinos for their sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea is intended as much to protect their national interest against China’s encroachments into their exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as it is to help establish an international rules-based order against a superpower bully, the citizens’ coalition “Atin Ito” (This is Ours) declared...