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Colombian president begins his final official foreign trip by reaffirming support for Cuba and rejecting military escalation.

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Colombian President Gustavo Petro arrived in Havana on Friday for his final official trip abroad as head of state, using the visit to reaffirm support for Cuba, reject military escalation in the Caribbean and call for international dialogue instead of sanctions, blockades and armed intervention.

RELATED: Petro to Meet with Cuban President Diaz-Canel in Havana

Petro said before departing that he had chosen Cuba for his last official foreign visit because “the Cuba under attack” is “vital to national sovereignty and the struggle for life in the Caribbean.”

“From Cuba, I want to oppose a war in the Caribbean,” he said. “Neither missiles, nor invasion, nor blockade are solutions to humanity’s problems.”

The Colombian leader also rejected calls for “invasions and missiles in Cuba,” saying the island has trained 2,000 Colombian doctors, helped secure the peace agreement with the former FARC guerrilla group and “saved hundreds of thousands of people around the world with its COVID-19 vaccine.”

Arribó a Cuba, en visita oficial, el presidente de la República de Colombia, Gustavo Petro Urrego, quien cumplirá un programa de actividades, centrado en los avances en las relaciones entre ambos países.

: https://t.co/cSnDG7ufWz pic.twitter.com/0ps6Dw0nmC

— Cancillería de Cuba (@CubaMINREX) August 1, 2026

Text Reads: The President of the Republic of Colombia, Gustavo Petro Urrego, has arrived in Cuba on an official visit, where he will carry out a program of activities focused on the advances in relations between the two countries.

Petro was welcomed at José Martí International Airport by Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Josefina Vidal before traveling to Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución to lay a wreath at the José Martí Memorial ahead of talks with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

According to Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two leaders will discuss progress in bilateral relations, with an emphasis on trade, investment and cooperation, as well as regional and international issues. The ministry said the visit also provides an opportunity to reaffirm both countries’ shared commitment to Latin American and Caribbean integration, peace, multilateralism and sustainable development.

Call for Global Dialogue

In a separate message published on Friday under the title “Why am I traveling to Cuba?”, Petro said the mandate given to his government in 2022, together with Colombia’s 1991 Constitution, obliges the country to work for peace, particularly in the Caribbean and Latin America, while highlighting Colombia’s role on the United Nations Security Council.

The Colombian president contrasted his administration’s commitment to peace with what he described as efforts to sever diplomatic ties with countries that, he said, had been among the strongest opponents of the genocide in Gaza, naming Cuba, Palestine, South Africa, Algeria, Malaysia and Haiti.

¿Por qué viajo a Cuba?

Colombia es el paós que preside el Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas, gracias a nuestra gestión que consiguió por más de 160 votos que Colombia fuera elegida.

Es el mayor triunfo internacional del país.

El programa que eligió la mayoría del pueblo…

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) July 31, 2026

Text Reads: Why do I travel to Cuba?
Colombia is the country that presides over the United Nations Security Council, thanks to our management that secured more than 160 votes for Colombia to be elected.
It is the greatest international triumph of the country.
The program that the majority of the people chose in 2022 imposed on me the duty to fight for peace and to uphold the 1991 Constitution, which in matters of foreign relations seeks world peace and above all that of the Caribbean and Latin America.
The new government, led by Netanyahu, drug trafficking, and those who have produced the genocide in Colombia, elected by algorithmic fraud, is going to sever diplomatic relations with the countries that most opposed the genocide in Gaza: South Africa, Malaysia, Algeria, Cuba, Haiti, and Palestine itself, the attacked and sacrificed entity suffering a genocide directed by Netanyahu.
Our international relations will be against our Constitution and our national sovereignty. Our international relations will be directed by the genocidal Netanyahu.
I want from Cuba to oppose a war in the Caribbean; the missiles against the Caribbean Sea directed at narcos killed humble people, as the U.S. intelligence agencies have just confirmed—they served no purpose, but they did assassinate 261 people, including, apparently, 50 Colombians.
Now there is talk of invasions and missiles on the island of Cuba, which has educated 2,000 Colombian male and female doctors, which helped Santos make peace in Colombia with the FARC, and which saved hundreds of thousands of people in the world with its anticovid vaccine.
Neither missiles, nor invasion, nor blockade are solutions within the problems of humanity.
The vote of my people was for peace, and it is my principle; blockades are widespread violations of human rights, and as president still of Colombia, which presides over the United Nations Security Council, I want to tell Colombia and humanity that if we want world peace, a dialogue between civilizations must begin that includes Latin America and the Caribbean on equal footing, and that we must seize, through dialogue and action, the little time left to save all life and human existence on the planet.

Petro also criticized military operations in the Caribbean, saying missile strikes targeting drug traffickers had killed 261 people, including what he said appeared to be 50 Colombians, citing information verified by U.S. intelligence agencies.

He described coercive measures such as blockades as widespread human rights violations and called for an international dialogue among equals to “save all life and humanity’s existence on the planet.”

Petro had originally planned to travel to the United States to attend a United Nations conference on natural resource governance and an event at the Organization of American States. He later canceled that trip after it was confirmed that the president of the Republic of the Congo would not attend the U.N. meeting.

Bilateral Ties

Relations between Havana and Bogotá have strengthened during Petro’s presidency. Cuba supported the resumption of peace talks between the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) in 2022 and has continued to serve as both host and guarantor of Colombia’s peace process after previously hosting negotiations and the signing of the peace agreement with the former FARC guerrilla group.

Petro has repeatedly called for an end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba and for the island’s removal from the unilateral list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism. His government has also recently sent humanitarian aid to Cuba.

The visit marks Petro’s third official trip to Cuba since taking office, following visits in June 2023 for the conclusion of the third round of peace talks with the ELN and in September 2023 for the G77+China Summit.

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A strengthening El Niño that could shatter all-time records is "adding fuel to a planet already on fire" and pushing the world into "uncharted territory," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Friday.

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Hungary's sole nuclear power plant will be shut down next week because of low water levels in the Danube, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said Friday as central Europe slogs through the latest in a series of heat waves.

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Upisyal na itinatag ng mga progresibong grupo ng estudyante, samahan ng maralita, at akademikong unyon ng University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman ang isang network na titindig laban sa pananalasa ng UP Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Park at ibayong komersyalisasyon sa kampus noong Hulyo 30. Inianunsyo ang pagbubuo ng Stop UP SDG Park Network sa isang pagtitipon sa barikada ng mga residente sa Pook Malantik, UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Itinatag ang network ilang linggo matapos itirik ng mga residente ang isang barikada noong Hulyo 8 para harangan ang pagpasok ng mga kagamitan sa konstruksyon ng kumpanya. Sa araw na iyon, binuwag at dinahas ng mga tauhan ng “Blue Guard” ng ARMMS Agency, Department of Public Order and Safety, at Quezon City Police District ang mga nagbarikada.

Ang UP SDG Park ay isang 22-ektaryang proyekto ng pribatisasyon ng administrayon ng UP na inilulusot bilang espasyo ng pagkatuto, maka-kalikasan at pagtulong sa mga estudyante at komunidad. Bahagi ng naturang proyekto ang pagtatayo ng golf driving range, mga “maka-kalikasang” pasilidad, negosyong pabahay at iba pang gusali.

Mapalalayas nito ang mga komunidad ng Pook Aguinaldo, Area 17, Malantic, bukid ng Krus na Ligas, CP Garcia, Pook Arboretum at marami pang iba. Tinatayang mahigit 70,000 pamilya ang kabuuang maapektuhan nito. Sa kabila ng paggigiit at dayalogo ng mga residente at magsasakang sa pangunguna ng Samahan ng Mamamayang Nagkakaisa sa Diliman (SAMANA Diliman), hindi pinakinggan ng UP ang kanilang hinaing.

Nagsimula na ang konstruksyon ng walong gusali at isang parke sa lupang kinatitirikan ng kanilang mga bahay at kabuhayan. Unang itinatayo ang isang negosyong pabahay para sa mga mapalalayas na residente kasabwat ang Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development at Megawide Corporation sa ilalim ng Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) program ng rehimeng Marcos.

Ang itinatag na Stop UP SDG Park Network ay binubuo ng Anakbayan Kolehiyo ng Arte at Literatura, All UP Academic Employees Union-Diliman, Defend The Hood, SAMANA Diliman, UP Diliman University Student Council at UP Office of the Student Regent. Mayroong limang puntong panawagan ang mga organisasyon.

Iginigiit nila ang pagpapatigil at pagbasura sa komersyalidadong UP SDG Park at ang kaugnay na komersyalisasyon at pribatisasyon ng unibersidad. Panawagan nilang bigyang prayoridad ng administrasyon ng UP ang batayang serbisyo sa mga estudyante at kumpletuhin ang konstrusyon ng mga naantalang impastrukturang pang-akademiko.

Ipinatitigil rin ng network ang panghaharas, intimidasyon at pagwasak ng mga tauhan ng UP sa pananim at ari-arian ng mga residente. Nanawagan silang ipaglaban ang karapatan sa lupa, pabahay at kabuhayan ng mga residente at magsasaka ng komunidad ng UP.

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Kinumpirma ng kapitan ng Barangay O’Donnell, Capas, Tarlac ang nakatakdang pagpapalayas ng Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) sa hindi bababa sa 92 na mga magsasaka at kanilang pamilya mula sa lupang sasaklawin ng 1,620-ektaryang proyekto sa ilalim ng Pax Silica. Ayon kay Barangay Captain Wendelle Mercado, “pinayuhan” na ng BCDA ang mga ito na umalis sa komunidad.

Naipamahagi na umano sa mga magsasaka ang abiso ng BCDA ngunit marami sa mga ito ang umaalma at naninindigan para sa kanilang mga karapatan. Humihingi ang mga magsasaka ng maayos na paliwanag, plano ng paglilipatan sa kanila at karampatang kumpensasyon sa kanilang lupa at kabuhayan.

“Pumupunta po sila sa barangay at nangangamba sa kanilang kabuhayan. Sinukat na ang lupa pero hindi pa malinaw kung saan sila pupunta,” pahayag ni Mercado sa panayam sa CLTV36. Ang mga lupang kinakamkam ay maituturing na mga produktibo at pang-agrikultura ayon sa kapitan.

Sa ulat ng alternatibong midya na Pokus Gitnang Luzon, ibinahagi ng mga residenteng nakapanayam nito na nagbahay-bahay na ang mga kinatawan ng BCDA bago pa ang isang konsultasyon sa barangay noong Hulyo 24. Ipinaliwanag umano sa kanila na kabilang ang buong Sitio Binyayan sa mga lugar na maaapektuhan ng Pax Silica.

Ayon sa mga residente, batay sa isinagawang sensus, tinatayang humigit-kumulang 500 pamilyang Aeta ang naninirahan sa Sitio Binyayan, bukod pa sa mga magsasaka at manggagawang hindi katutubo ngunit matagal nang residente.

Inengganyo na rin ang limitadong bilang ng mga Aeta ng kumpensasyong ₱300,000 kada ektarya, ngunit hanggang limang ektarya lamang ang sasaklawin nito. Ayon sa BCDA, kung babayaran ang halaga ng lupa ay hindi na nito babayaran ang halaga ng pananim. Para sa mga residente, lagpas sa halaga ng kumpensasyon ang kanilang hinaing kundi ang pundamental na isyu ng pangangamkam sa kanilang lupang ninuno.

Katulad ng paninindigan ng mga magsasaka at katutubong Aeta ng Capas, iginigiit ni Mercado na dapat tiyakin ang kapakanan ng mga maaapektuhan ng proyekto. Nauna nang nanindigan ang BCDA na pag-aari ng ahensya ang lupang sakop ng proyekto at may kaukulang titulo.

Ang AI-hub ng Pax Silica ay itatayo sa saklaw na lupa ng New Clark City na pinatatkbo ng BCDA. Ang ahensya ay itinatag sa bisa ng Republic Act No. 7227 na kilala rin bilang Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992. Itinalaga ito para sa pagpapalit-gamit at pagbebenta sa mga dating base militar ng US sa bansa. Kaugnay ng batas nilabas ang Presidential Proclamation No. 163 ng nagtatag sa Clark Special Economic Zone. Sinaklaw ng pagpapatupad nito ang mga lupang ninuno sa Tarlac.

The post 92 magsasaka sa Tarlac, pinalalayas ng BCDA para sa AI-hub ng Pax Silica appeared first on PRWC | Philippine Revolution Web Central.

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Pansamantalang napatigil ng protesta ng mga estudyante ng De La Salle University (DLSU)-Manila ang talumpati ni Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla sa isang porum sa kampus noong Hulyo 30. Panawagan ng mga estudyante ang pagpapanagot kay Remulla sa pasistang mga hakbang nito bilang kalihim.

“Walang malugod na pagsalubong para sa mga pasista. Jonvic Remulla, isa kang pekeng Lasalyano! Literal na walang may gusto sa’yo rito,” pahayag ni Liway Molines, tagapagsalita ng Anakbayan Vito Cruz, balangay na nakakasaklaw sa DSLU. Nag-aral si Remulla ng elementarya sa DLSU.

Ayon pa kay Molines, katawa-tawa at isang malaking kahihiyan para sa mga Lasalyano ang katulad ni Remulla. Pinapanagot nila ang kalihim sa pag-uutos nito sa Philippine National Police (PNP) sa brutal at marahas na pagbuwag sa mga protestang kontra-korapsyon noong Setyembre 21, 2025 sa Mendiola. Namatay sa brutalidad ng pulis ang isang manggagawa habang 277 ang inaresto kabilang ang 91 menor-de-edad.

Siningil din nila ang kalihim sa karahasan ng mga pulis sa kamakailang protestang SONA ng bayan kontra state of the nation address ni Ferdinand Marcos Jr sa Commonwealth Avenue sa Quezon City. Dinampot ng PNP ang hindi bababa sa 51 indibidwal.

Kaugnay ng presensya ni Remulla sa kampus, nanawagan ang Anakbayan-Vito Cruz sa mga Lasalyano na huwag hayaang magpatuloy ang pagpasok ng mga pasistang tulad ni Remulla sa unibersidad. “Ang ating mga hinaing ay hindi matutugnan ng pinalawig pang pamumulis o panunupil sa mga nagsasalita,” pahayag ni Molines.

Nagpahayag ng suporta ang National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) sa mga estudyanteng Lasalyano na nagprotesta at tumindig kay Remulla. Anang grupo, ang pagkilos ay lehitimong paggamit ng demokratikong karapatang magpahayag, magtipon, at maningil ng pananagutan sa mga nasa kapangyarihan.

“Ang unibersidad ay lunsaran ng malayang pag-iisip, kritikal na diskurso, at sama-samang pagkilos para sa bayan, hindi plataporma para sa mga kinatawan ng pasismo at panunupil,” anito.

The post Talumpati ng kalihim ng DILG sa DLSU, sinalubong ng protesta appeared first on PRWC | Philippine Revolution Web Central.

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Natulak ang lokal na gubyerno ng Capas, Tarlac na tumindig laban sa panggigipit at paghihipit na ipinapataw ng Philippine Air Force (PAF) sa mga komunidad ng Aeta sa palibot ng Colonel Ernesto Ravina Air Base (CERAB), isang reserbasyong militar, sa Barangay Sta. Juliana. Kamakailan, nagprotesta ang 3,000 residente laban sa pagbabawal ng militar sa pagtatayo at pagkumpuni ng kanilang mga bahay, paghihigpit sa suplay ng tubig at kuryente, at panggigipit kahit sa mga aktibidad ng lokal na gubyerno sa erya. Ang mga ito ay isinagawa sa utos ng kumander ng 790th Air Base Group ng PAF Air Installation and Base Development Command na si PAF Lt. Col. Owen M. Avenido.

Ang mga panggigipit ay kaugnay ng planong pagtatayo ng Joint Training Complex sa Crow Valley Military Complex at CERAB para sa mga pasilidad-militar at bilang tuluy-tuloy na lunsaran ng mga war game gaya ng taunang Balikatan war games ng US. Alinsunod sa plano, buo-buong paalisin ang mga residente sa kabuuang 18,000 ektaryang lupain ng military complex sa mga barangay ng Sta. Juliana, O’Donnel (Patling), at Sta.Lucia.

Dahil sa mga paghihigpit na ito, naglabas ng resolusyon ang konseho ng Capas na nagdedeklarang “persona non grata” si Lt. Col. Avenido. Isa itong pormal na pagpapahayag ng kanilang pagkundena sa upisyal na itinuturing nilang nakapipinsala sa interes o kapakanan ng komunidad. Ito ay hiniling mismo ni Capas Mayor Roseller Rodriquez mula sa konseho dahil sa pagbabawal na makapasok sa barangay ang mga ahensya para sa mga aktibidad at serbisyo sa mga komunidad.

Kasunod ang deklarasyon sa kilos protesta ng mahigit 3,000 Aeta at mga residente ng Capas sa tsekpoynt ng CERAB noong Hulyo 14. Kinundena nila ang ipinapataw na mga hakbang ng PAF na nakaaapekto sa kanilang buhay at kabuhayan, at ang kaakibat nitong pagpapalayas sa kanilang lupang ninuno.

Ilang araw matapos ilabas ng lokal na gubyerno ang resolusyon, kaagad na ipinagtanggol ng PAF si Lt. Col. Avenido. Anito, buo ang tiwala ng PAF sa kumander. Malinaw na palatandaan ito ng pagkunsinti sa mga hakbang niyang mapanupil at kawalang pananagutan sa mamamayan at maging sa lokal na gubyerno.

Sa harap nito, tuluy-tuloy ang panawagan ng mga Aeta at residente na ibasura ang mga mapanupil na patakaran at wakasan ang pangangamkam sa kanilang lupang ninuno. Nangangamba rin ang mga komunidad sa Capas, Tarlac sa kasabay na pananalasa ng proyektong itatayo sa ilalim ng Pax Silica sa 1,620 ektarya ng lupa.

Ang mga ito ay isinasagasa sa Capas sa pangangasiwa ng Bases Conversion and Development Authority na itinatag sa bia ng Republic Act No. 7227 na kilala rin bilang Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992. Itinalaga ang ahensya para sa pagpapalit-gamit at pagbebenta sa mga dating base militar ng US sa bansa. Kaugnay ng batas nilabas ang Presidential Proclamation No. 163 ng nagtatag sa Clark Special Economic Zone. Sinaklaw ng pagpapatupad nito ang mga lupang ninuno sa Tarlac.

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Lutang at di tutugon sa pangunahing problema ng mamamayan ng Eastern Visayas ang ibinahagi ng mga nangungunang lokal na burukrata ng Regional Development Council-Region 9 na Regional Development Report (RDR) 2025 noong Hulyo 2. Tulad sa katatapos lamang na State of the Nation Address (SONA) ni Ferdinand Marcos Jr, hindi ito nagbunga ng pag-unlad. Puno ang ulat ng mga ilusyon, manipulasyon ng datos, at bigong pangako.

Noong 2025, kahit sa manipuladong datos ng gubyerno, lumago lamang ng 1% ang ekonomya ng Eastern Visayas. Malayo ito sa itinarget ng reaksyunaryong gubyerno na 6.5%-7.5% paglago. Malayo rin ito sa naitalang 6.8% nang magsimula ang termino ni Marcos noong 2022. Bunga ito ng lubos na pagliit ng sektor ng agrikultura at pangingisda na nagtala ng -1.3%. Isinisisi ito ng RDR sa pansamantalang pagsara ng San Juanico Bridge at pananalasa ng mga bagyong Tino at Uwan.

Ngunit ang pagbagal ng ekonomya ay hindi lamang dahil sa sektor ng agrikultura. Katunayan, noong 2024, 11% lamang ang bahagi nito sa ekonomya, samantalang humigit-kumulang 50% ang ambag ng sektor, na mula pa noong 2022 ay tuluy-tuloy nang humihina. Ganito rin ang kalagayan sa pambansang antas, na ayon sa Ibon Foundation. Tinukoy ng Ibon ang ay ang mas mahinang paggastos ng mamamayan, bunga ng kanilang maliit na kita, bilang dahilan ng mabagal na paglago ng ekonomya.

Sinasalamin ng pagbagsak ng agrikultura ang pagbagsak ng produksyon ng palay, kamoteng kahoy at niyog—tatlong mayor na produkto ng rehiyon. Kahit na malalawak ang mga palayan sa Eastern Visayas at pangunahing hanapbuhay dito ang pagsasaka, net importer pa rin ito ng bigas. Samantala, prinsipal na cash crop ang kopra pero hindi sapat ang kita dito ng mga magsasaka upang matugunan ang kanilang mga pangangailangan. Bumagsak din nang 18% ang huli ng maliliit na mangingisda samantalang lumaki naman ang sa komersyal na pangingisda. Bunga na ito ng desisyon ng Korte Suprema na nagpahintulot sa malalaking komersyal na barko na mangisda sa 15-kilometrong municipal waters.

Bagsak din ang mga sektor ng industriya (-3.8%) at manupaktura (-9.6%). Itinuturong dahilan ang pagsara ng Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corporation sa Leyte kung saan 3,000 empleyado ang natanggal. Malaking bahagi ng tinatawag na “industriya” ay nasa konstruksyon, na hindi pangmatagalan at barat ang sahod.

Patuloy na nasasadlak ang Eastern Visayas sa kalagayang atrasagdo at kawalan ng pag-unlad. Likas ito sa lipunang malakolonyal at malapyudal at hindi maisisisi lamang sa kalamidad. Palatandaan pa ng ekonomyang nakatuon-sa-eksport at nakaasa-sa-import, bumagsak nang 53% ang halaga ng mga eksport ng Eastern Visayas samantalang lumobo nang 33% ang halaga ng mga import kumpara noong 2020.

Kawalang trabaho

Pinagmamalaki ng RDR 2025 na bumaba ang tantos ng kawalang trabaho at kakulangan ng trabaho kumpara noong 2021. Ngunit sa panahong ito, hindi naman tuluy-tuloy ang sinasabing “pagtaas” ng bilang ng mayroong trabaho.

Mas nagiging ilusyon lang na sapat ang trabaho kung titingnan ang labor force participation rate (LPFR). Mula 2021, tuluy-tuloy itong bumaba mula 63.2% patungong 60.3%. Ibig sabihin, habang lumalaki ang populasyon, lumiliit naman ang bilang ng nasa kwerpo ng lakas-paggawa. Kabilang sa mga dahilan ang pagliit nito ang kakulangan ng trabaho, pagkadismaya ng mga manggagawa sa sahod, o kapansanan. Kaya walang dapat ipagmayabang ang Northern Samar, na kahit na pinakamataas ang tantos ng empleyo (99.0%), pinakamababa naman ang LPFR (57.5%). Hindi dahil mataas ang tantos ng empleyo otomatikong lahat ay may hanapbuhay.

Mahal na bilihin, kulang na serbisyo

Sa kabila ng bagsak na agrikultura, nag-ambisyon ang rehimeng Marcos na magiging abot-kaya ang mga bilihin. Binida nito na noong 2025, naging pinakaistable ang presyo ng pagkain sa loob ng tatlong dekada dahil nasa 0.0% lamang ang tantos ng implasyon nito. Ngunit hindi ibig sabihin na mas mura na ang pagkain, sa halip ay mas mabagal lang ang pagmahal nito. At anumang “istableng presyo” noon ay nabawi lang din sa pagsabog ng digmaan sa Middle East at oil price shock ngayong taon, na nagpataas sa implasyon sa 8.7% nitong Abril.

Sa mga panlipunang serbisyo, ibinida rin ng RDR na lumaki ang nalikhang kuryente sa Eastern Visayas na mula sa renewable energy, kaya mas minamadali ang ₱33.39 bilyong halaga ng mga proyekto. Ngunit kahit wala pa ang bagong mga proyekto, higit pa sa sapat ang 3,482 gigawatt-hour (GWh) na kuryenteng nalilikha ng geothermal energy plant sa Leyte para sa 1,881 GWh na demand ng rehiyon. Pero dahil pribatisado, napupunta ang kuryente sa ibang rehiyon at hindi napakikinabangan ng mga lokal na konsyumer.

Sa kalusugan, kulang pa rin ang mga manggagawang pangkalusugan at mababa ang hospital bed-to-population ratio. Sa edukasyon, hindi nakamit ang mga target sa bilang ng enrollment at pagpapatapos ng mga mag-aaral ng elementarya, junior at senior high school. Sa kabila ito ng isinasaad ng RDR na tuluy-tuloy ang mga “sosyo-ekonomikong inisyatiba” sa ilalim ng Barangay Development Program (BDP) ng National Task Force-Elcac, kung saan kabilang ang pagpapatayo ng mga klinik at klasrum para sa hindi bababa sa 200 barangay na “insurgency-free.” Mula pa noong 2021 ipinapatupad ang BDP sa Eastern Visayas.

—ulat mula sa Larab, rebolusyonaryong pahayagang masa sa Eastern Visayas

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The Chinese military held joint naval and air drills near Scarborough Shoal, a disputed reef in the South China Sea, on Saturday. The training exercise came after Beijing hit out at the Philippines for an “illegal” attempt to extend its seabed rights off the coast of Palawan and map out its claims to the reef. “This is a necessary action taken in light of the current situation in the South China Sea and in response to the acts of certain countries within the region that have undermined regional...

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This column by Pedro Mellado originally appeared in the July 31, 2026 edition of SinEmbargo, one of Mexico’s leading independent digital news outlets.

“Business cannot be placed above social need and the State’s obligation to guarantee the human right to water.”

In the Guadalajara metropolitan area live 5,110,000 people, and at least 1,200,000 subscribers are users of the Intermunicipal System of Potable Water and Sewerage (SIAPA). After the conurbations of Mexico City and Monterrey, Guadalajara’s is the third most populated metropolitan area in the country. And the Governor of Jalisco, Jesús Pablo Lemus Navarro, is seen to be very eager to close deals with private companies that, he assures, are willing to invest in some SIAPA projects to resolve the serious health crisis represented, for several months now, by the supply of dirty, unsanitary, and foul-smelling water that millions of people in the Guadalajara conurbation suffer.

The governor has shown no interest whatsoever in establishing a broad, open technical roundtable, with experts and representatives of society and of users, to lay out a route that would allow the problem to be resolved, and he deepens the distrust of those who oppose any threat of water privatization in the Guadalajara metropolitan area. In Jalisco the water utility is administered by the state government and has on its board of directors representatives of the municipalities of Guadalajara, Zapopan, Tlaquepaque, and Tonalá, who are practically never taken into account.

The nauseating stench of distrust framed the words of the businessman Lemus Navarro, turned into Governor of Jalisco by a stroke of fortune and with the support of Movimiento Ciudadano, when he announced this past Wednesday, July 28, 2026, that he already has four investors, four offers already submitted, from those who are set to participate in public-private partnership schemes, and he asked the National Water Commission to move quickly on the technical validation of projects, which would allow his Administration to carry out the financial analysis. The presumption is that those investors would finance a new Chapala-Guadalajara aqueduct and the renovation of the main water treatment plant in the Guadalajara metropolitan area.

In announcing that there are already four investors interested in doing business with water, the government of Pablo Lemus gets far ahead of itself, because if the projects have not been defined and approved by the National Water Commission or by an independent, top-level technical committee, if potential investment amounts have not been quantified and there are no executive projects, and if criteria have not been defined to tender those potential projects, it is inexplicable that negotiation or participation of four companies or businessmen interested in investing is already being anticipated.

All of this is contradictory with what is established on page 8 of the so-called “Technical Bases for the Prioritization of Strategic Interventions for the Water Security of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area,” delivered by the Government of Jalisco to the state Congress on Tuesday, July 14, 2026.

That document warns: “These Technical Bases do not constitute the instruments of strategic planning, nor do they determine in advance the specific solutions that must be adopted. Nor do they represent, in themselves, decisions of programming, financing, authorization, or execution.”

The “Technical Bases” booklet further adds: “These determinations will correspond to later stages of planning, in which the various alternatives must be evaluated according to their technical, economic, financial, environmental, social, legal, and institutional feasibility.”

The very preliminary character of those “Technical Bases” is clarified on page 11: “The present document constitutes the technical foundation for the formulation of an action plan that contributes to addressing the identified problem. Its function consists of integrating the available evidence, identifying the structural constraints of the system, determining the capacities that require strengthening, and establishing criteria for the subsequent evaluation and prioritization of alternatives.”

The aforementioned document is very emphatic: “By their nature, these Technical Bases do not imply, in themselves, the authorization, programming, financing, or execution of specific actions. These determinations will correspond to the later stages of planning and must be based on the applicable studies and procedures.”

So then, on the basis of what criteria has the Government of Jalisco established dialogue and begun negotiations with four potential investors to finance projects of the Intermunicipal System of Potable Water and Sewerage of Guadalajara?

Is private investment, the business of water, the panacea for resolving the problems of the supply of dirty and foul-smelling water that the users of the Guadalajara metropolitan area suffer?

Sergio E. Gómez Partida, a consultant in evaluation, results-based management, and planning in the public, private, and social sectors, who in 2012 audited the privatized potable water system of the City of Aguascalientes, makes some important observations.

“In my experience in Aguascalientes (2012), where I was tasked with auditing the concession (company, contract, and compliance performance) from a technical analysis of processes-products-results, I can assure you that the private sector is more ‘ingenious’ at pulling off shady tricks than the public sector. There the French company (Veolia), tied to a Mexican corporate group, set about extracting significant flows of profit, many of them through breaches of the contractual commitment and others through simple imagination to raise dividends.”

That company, Gómez Partida points out, even engaged in “manipulation at the level of the user registry and the commercial system. [Private companies] have more imagination for corruption than any public entity. The key is to consolidate the State’s stewardship and regulation, from the perspective of a complex system, because part of the ‘trap’ is to make the water utilities appear as ‘technical entities,’ that is to say, institutions dedicated [only] to the ‘physical-chemical’ issue of water.”

Consultant Gómez Partida explains that granting a concession or involving the private sector in water operations is a complex matter, one that includes the environmental, the economic, the social, the institutional, and also the physical-chemical; for that reason, what he calls the “engineering kidnapping” I describe as a deceitful measure. He considers that in any public-private agreement there are risks if there is a lack of public stewardship over the private, which must translate into a broad and solid system of regulation.

For his part, Arturo Gleason Espíndola, a doctor in urban planning and an expert in the management of water resources, stated that the problem of the infected and foul-smelling water supplied to users in Guadalajara is not resolved by privatizing SIAPA nor by requesting more federal resources without first presenting a precise, up-to-date, and independent technical diagnosis that identifies the real causes of the crisis.

“It is worrying,” warns Dr. Gleason Espíndola, “that the plan presented [by the Government of Lemus Navarro] is disjointed and shows evident signs of having been produced almost entirely with Artificial Intelligence, without the technical support that a problem of this magnitude demands. Jalisco needs decisions based on evidence, transparency, and long-term planning, not improvisation.”

Water cannot be privatized nor can it be subject to commercial criteria of profitability or profit, because the General Water Law is very clear in establishing in its article six that, as the General Constitution of the Republic establishes, “every person and community must enjoy the human right to water, without any distinction and without exclusions, distinctions, or restrictions by the authorities or by private parties that undermine human dignity.”

The General Water Law further adds: “Priority attention must be given to the sectors in a situation of greater vulnerability, marginalization, and lack of protection of the population.” For these reasons, the potable water for human consumption that the State is obligated to supply cannot be a business.

Article 9 of the General Water Law is categorical: “The water utilities may not totally suspend the supply of potable water and the sanitation service for lack of payment; in any case, they must supply the minimum quantity for basic human consumption.”

In addition, the General Water Law clarifies in its article 28 that it falls to municipal governments to “guarantee the provision of the public services of potable water, drainage, sewerage, treatment, and disposal of their wastewater, considering them a human right of priority attention.”

And it empowers them to “coordinate and, where appropriate, associate with other municipalities and with the competent state authorities for the establishment of intermunicipal water and sanitation systems, with the aim of guaranteeing the adequate provision of the public services of potable water, drainage, sewerage, treatment, and disposal of wastewater, under the terms provided by the applicable regulations.”

Any initiative by the government of the Movimiento Ciudadano member Jesús Pablo Lemus Navarro to accept investments in the Potable Water System of the Guadalajara metropolitan area would have to be the object of a detailed technical analysis, with the participation of independent specialists, experts from public and private higher-education institutions, and observers from society at large representing the users, and after a broad discussion in the Congress of Jalisco. And of course, with the endorsement of the federal government, which exercises its stewardship through the National Water Commission.

The privatizing temptations are latent, and the deepening of the problem of the infected and foul-smelling water feeds the urgency of the population, an argument that could be used by the Government of Jalisco to pressure and justify turning the operation of the Intermunicipal System of Potable Water and Sewerage of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area into a private business. Business cannot be placed above social need and the State’s obligation to guarantee people their human right to clean, clear, and potable water.

Pedro Mellado Rodríguez
A journalist who, for five decades, has been a keen and critical observer of public life in Mexico. He has covered all news beats and held every possible position in the media. He has worked in print, radio, television, and digital media. His column, "Puntos y Contrapuntos" (Points and Counterpoints), has been published for four decades in newspapers such as El Occidental, Siglo 21, and Mural in Guadalajara, Jalisco. He studied law at the University of Guadalajara and for a decade was a journalism professor at ITESO, the Jesuit University of Guadalajara. He is the author of the book "Las Naves Nodrizas de la Comunicación y el Periodismo" (The Motherships of Communication and Journalism) (Taller Editorial La Casa del Mago, Guadalajara, 2022).

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  Analysis

  Guadalajara’s Water at Risk of Privatization

  July 31, 2026

  Jalisco’s governor floats water privatization amid a contamination crisis on his own government’s watch, joining other right-wing opposition states dogged by water scandals.

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A political row is threatening to undermine Taiwan’s efforts to increase its stockpiles of military drones and has raised questions about the future of its domestic manufacturers. On Monday, lawmakers failed to agree on competing versions of a bill to buy and develop military drones after six hours of debate. While the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the opposition broadly agree on the need to expand the island’s arsenal of drones, they disagree about who should oversee the...

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FIFA President Gianni Infantino cancelled the controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise project this Friday, following intense backlash from UEFA and other major confederations over the privatization of global football commercial rights.

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The head of world football’s governing body, Gianni Infantino, confirmed the cancellation of the corporate initiative through an official statement published on social media on July 31.

The program, known as FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), aimed to sell commercial rights and tournament organization stakes to private investors, a move that sparked immediate and coordinated resistance from UEFA, Concacaf, and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

RELATED: FIFA Advisor Resigns After Proposal to Sell World Cup Participation

Infantino declared that although the project was intended to strengthen member associations globally, it generated deep structural divisions. “After listening carefully to all opinions, it has become clear that the project has generated divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the established goal,” Infantino stated, concluding that the controversial commercial proposal will not advance under his leadership.

https://x.com/fifamedia/status/2083334512818131199

The internal crisis within the governing body deepened earlier this Friday when Carlos Cordeiro, former President of the U.S. Soccer Federation, announced his resignation as senior advisor to Infantino. Cordeiro departed in protest against the proposed sale of stakes in a yet-to-be-formed FIFA subsidiary to private financial groups, highlighting the growing institutional rejection of the corporatization of international sports.

FIFA Forward Enterprise: What is it?

Key info you need to know:

— FIFA (@FIFAcom) July 30, 2026

UEFA Leads Boycott

UEFA, led by Aleksander Ceferin, spearheaded the opposition by threatening a total boycott of all major international tournaments. The European governing body warned that no European national team would participate in any FIFA competition if the privatization plan proceeded, asserting that the FIFA World Cup belongs to the sport, its fans, and the global community, and is not a commodity for sale.

This major commercial dispute highlights the growing tension between transnational capital interests and the sovereignty of regional sports organizations. Critics of the FIFA Forward Enterprise argued that allowing private corporate consortiums to control international tournaments would marginalize developing nations, concentrating wealth in private hands while stripping regional bodies of democratic decision-making power.

Moving forward, Infantino indicated his intention to meet with regional football confederations and diverse stakeholders in the coming weeks to find alternative, non-extractive growth strategies. However, the collapse of this commercialization proposal marks a significant victory for regional bodies asserting control over the public character of global sports against speculative private capital.

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