cavite cover-up? #HTIfire

karereport ni raya capulong sa dzmm teleradyo:  sa wakas, naapula na ang sunog.  walang casualty, sabi daw ni governor remulla.  (maybe he/she meant “fatality”?  maybe i misheard?)  at tila naniwala naman sina karen davila at vic lima.

IMPIYERNO SA ENGKLABO
by Darius Galang

Kuwento ng ilang saksi sa sunog sa pabrika ng HTI sa Cavite Economic Zone sa Rosario, Cavite

… Tumangging magpakilala sa publiko, pero mga manggagawang nakalabas o nakaalis na nang sumiklab ang sunog ang nakapanayam ng Pinoy Weekly. “Tiyak na hindi makakaligtas ‘yung nasa second at third floor,” saad ng isang nakapanayam.

Masaklap pa, karamihan sa nasa research and development na nasa ikatlong palapag ay kababaihan. Ang ibang nakaligtas, tumalon. Bali sa binti ang mga pinsala. Ang iba, gumapang papalabas. Sabi pa ng isang nagbahagi, traumatic ang gumapang, dahil patay na daw ang ilang nagapangan niya…

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When will we have ‘Philippines First’?

Rigoberto D. Tiglao

WHILE the new US President Donald Trump is inarguably a demagogic megalomaniac, he demonstrated a streak of genius, or a deep insight into his countrymen’s feelings, that made him win, when he made his campaign battle cries “America First” as well as “We will make America great again.”

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Murderous Manila: On the Night Shift

James Fenton

One night in December, I was standing in heavy rain, under an umbrella, in a dark Manila alleyway, outside a house known to be a drug den, waiting with “the night shift,” the photographers and reporters on the crime beat, on the off chance of being shown upstairs to the scene of the killings. We knew the story in outline only: four men had been getting ready for a pot-smoking session on the second floor when a masked intruder burst in and shot them all dead. There was one witness, a sixteen-year-old boy, but he was said to be too shocked to speak.

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Good news, bad news for culture

Katrina S.S.

Ever since President Duterte came into power, the only time(s) we’ve ever had a sense of what he thinks of arts and culture is when he appoints people to cultural institutions.

And then there are those instances when we just hear people speaking as supporters of the President.

Say, Freddie Aguilar saying he had been promised a Department of Culture and in place of that, the chairmanship of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

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