Piercing Pens

British parliamentarian Robin Cook, an ally in our campaign against the US-led war in Iraq, was laid to rest today. He died in a hospital last August 6 after he collapsed while walking on a hill in Scotland.

In 2003, Cook resigned his post as leader of the House of Commons in 2003 to protest Britain’s involvement in the war on Iraq. (more…)

AKBAYAN and the Alliance of Progressive Labor picketed the House of Representatives to urge lawmakers to speed up the impeachment process and to dare fence-sitting lawmakers to affix their signatures to the impeachment complaint.

Their first request was apparently not granted as today’s impeachment hearing at the justice committee was suspended due to procedural questions. It is expected to resume next week.

Meanwhile, the natdem block of Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela Women’s Party served “impeachi-pichi”, “impeachapie” and “impeach candies” to the media and people’s organizations at the House as they launched their “Bantay Impeachment” initiative. The party-list solons served the renamed egg pies, pichi-pichi and candies to members of the media and activist leaders who were present. (more…)

Though I’ve heard that an impeach-gloria site exists, I didn’t discover this site until today: www.impeachgma.com. It features, among other things, the full text of the amended impeachment complaint against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

I tried searching for the domain name owner through whois search, but the owner prefers to be anonymous. (more…)

Edwin Lacierda wrote a tribute to the late senator who was his mentor in the law profession:

Raul S. Roco will be forever be remembered for his greatness in the halls of the House of Representatives and the Senate floor and for his incorruptible accomplishments in the Department of Education. But I will always cherish him as my first teacher in the law profession who took time to train the humble and the lowly, to emphasize that right is might, the primacy of country over one’s own, public service over private greed and faith in man’s goodness over pessimism and hopelessness.

Youth leader Mong Palatino on the the youngest president of the National Union of the Philippines: “Raul Roco may have lost two presidential elections but he will be remembered as the most admired Filipino politician among young Filipinos. ” (more…)

Former Senator Raul S. Roco died this morning, according to an INQ7.net report.

Roco ran for the presidency twice and lost both bids. A former student leader, lawyer, poet and film producer, he also served as secretary of education after People Power 2. (more…)