AFP bombs rural villages in Cagayan Valley

Fighter jets of the Armed Forces of the Philippines dropped at least 30 bombs on four villages in the town of Gonzaga, Cagayan province. Three helicopter gunships simultaneously carried out indiscriminate strafing with .50 caliber machine guns. The aerial attacks were carried out in four waves at 4:30 am, 5:00 am, 9:40 am and at 12:00 noon on 29 January on the villages of Sta. Clara, Sta. Isabel, Sta. Teresita and Magrafil, all in Gonzaga town.

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Denounce monopoly control on global oil prices -- CPP

The Communist Party of the Philippines called on the Filipino people to denounce monopoly oil companies and oil producing countries who collude in controlling global oil prices and to demand an immediate rollback in the domestic prices of petroleum products.

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China grants PhP1 billion military aid to Duterte government

China announced the arrival in Manila on 16 January of military rescue and relief equipment, estimated at PhP614 million, destined for the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The delivery represented the first tranche of military aid from China, totaling PhP1 billion (US$19.6 million).

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Localized peace talks are anti-peace – CPP

The Communist Party of the Philippines blasted on 25 January the Executive Order 158 of President Rodrigo Duterte calling for ‘localized peace talks’, declaring that this “promotes a fake peace and will completely shut the doors to serious peace negotiations.” CPP Chief Information Officer Marco Valbuena asserted that Duterte’s directive aims “to kill the people’s resistance to land grabbing, low wages and the expansion of plantations and mining companies” and is a “counterinsurgency weapon to conduct psychological warfare and intelligence operations against the people and the people’s army.”

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Cavite villagers foil demolition attempt by real estate magnates

Uniting under the call Save Patungan Now, residents of Patungan village, in Maragondon, Cavite province, set up barricades and successfully resisted the most recent attempt to demolish their homes and community on 13 January by a 1,000-strong contingent of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines and armed goons. The demolition crew, working at the behest of real estate corporations of the Sy and Virata families, stormed the village, dismantled the barricades, destroyed homes and repeatedly fired their guns.

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Turkey, Israel beef up Duterte’s military capabilities

The first of a batch of six T129B helicopters from Turkey arrived in Manila on 9 January 2022 and received by officials of the Rodrigo Duterte government. Temel Kotil, General Manager of Turkish Aerospace, Inc. announced the delivery. The next two units are set to be delivered in 2023 and the last two in 2024.

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Duterte government snubs UN Rapporteurs on killings of rights defenders

UN Special Rapporteurs are demanding updates from the government of President Rodrigo Duterte regarding the ‘Bloody Sunday’ killings in March 2021 and other killings of human rights defenders attributed to government security forces. Duterte officials have yet to respond to the points raised by the UN rights experts.

Read more: Duterte government snubs UN Rapporteurs on killings of rights defenders