Gate 1 of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac, where seven lay dead after the Nov. 16 carnage, remains as the battleground between the Cojuangcos and the striking sugar mill and farm workers. This is where hundreds of battle-scarred strikers have held their ground since Nov. 6 and even non-striking workers say unless this gate is…
Day: January 23, 2005
CHURCH FENCED IN
Photo by Dabet Castañeda The barbed wire did not always surround this church, which is located inside the Cojuangco/Aquino-owned Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac. It was erected there just before the strike staged Nov. 6 by plantation and milling workers demanding land redistribution, higher wages and benefits, more mandays, and the reinstatement of retrenched employees. The…
Mock Coffins and Jeers as Bush Sworn In
By Andy Sullivan Reuters Washington – Flag-draped coffins and jeering anti-war protesters competed with pomp and circumstance on Thursday at the inauguration of President Bush along the snow-dusted, barricaded streets of central Washington. As the president’s motorcade made its way down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House amid the tightest security in…
Dancing the War Away
By BOB HERBERT NYTimes Watching the inaugural ceremonies yesterday reminded me of the scenes near the end of “The Godfather” in which a solemn occasion (a baptism in the movie) is interspersed with a series of spectacularly violent murders. Even as President Bush was taking the oath of office and delivering his Inaugural Address beneath…
News at a glance
7 of 10 farmers are landless Seven out of 10 farmers in Southern Tagalog (a region south of Manila) are landless. Peter “Tata Pido” Gonzales, spokesperson of the Katipunan ng mga Samahan ng Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK, a farmers’ alliance in the region) said Jan. 21that the unprecedented increase in the number of farmers…
Leyte NGO Appeals for Stop to Military Operations
BY BULATLAT “The government should recognize the fact that there is insurgency because of social injustice and the inequitable distribution of economic resources in the country. It can only be solved by providing the poor long-term economic security,” said Jazmin Jerusalem, executive director of the Leyte Center for Development, Inc., a non-governmental organization. Tacloban City,…