“Tunggal dumawat tayo ti nayon a sweldo, ibaga da a bassit ti mapaspastrek a ganansiya ken maluglugi da pay” (Whenever we ask for just wage increases, the company tells us that it is not earning, that business is not good). Striking mine workers have all the more reason to demand for a wage increase and…
Day: June 18, 2005
Luisita Workers Reject GMA Expressway; Press for Her Ouster
After stopping plantation and milling operations at Hacienda Luisita, cane workers and their families gear up for blocking the construction of one of President Macapagal-Arroyo’s flagship projects – a super expressway. By Abner Bolos Bulatlat.com The much-delayed Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project (SCTEP), one of the 10 flagship programs of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, may yet face its…
Lepanto Accused of Blocking Medical Mission
Militarization heightens as Dole orders return-to-work A medical mission was prevented by the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo) from delivering health services to the more than 1,000 striking workers and their families. This, however, proves to be the least of the union’s concern as military and police presence is increased in the area. They anticipate…
Patience Wearing Thin for Workers
Wage hike legislation nears 6 years President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo faces a punishment worse than impeachment if she continues to ignore the demand of workers for a legislated wage increase in the minimum daily wage by P125 ($2.26). A party-list legislator argued that she faces the people’s wrath if workers are left with no other choice…
Southern Tagalog Workers Treated Like Slaves
In the Southern Tagalog region, workers were given a minuscule increase in their minimum daily wage. What proves to be worse is that only a small segment can avail of the already miniscule increase, since those outside the so-called extended metropolitan area will be getting less. By DENNIS ESPADA Bulatlat.com CALAMBA CITY, Laguna – A…
Currents of Unrest at Compostela’s Big Banana Plantations
Labor contractualization and other new schemes in Compostela Valley’s large banana plantations are agitating both farmworkers and small growers for wage increase and union rights. By Gilbert Pacificar Bulatlat Mindanao Bureau Bulatlat.com Compostela Valley Province – The woes of plantation workers in this top banana-producing province in Mindanao are mounting as big plantation corporations are…
Oust-Gloria Call Mounts
For allegedly stealing the 2004 elections, the 14th President of the Philippines faces mounting calls for her resignation. An increasing number of groups and individuals believe there is only one penalty for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s crime of electoral fraud – her ouster. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat.com President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s credibility has been recently blemished by the…
In the Heart of Barlig
Photo by Ace Alegre / Bulatlat Bulatlat.com An old farmer in Kadaklan village, in the heart of Barlig, Mountain Province (about 13 hours ride north of Manila) arranges his rice harvest. He is preparing for the next planting season. The seeds he plants on his payao (rice paddy) are of the native highland variety, which…
Govt’s New Statistical Trick Hides Job Losses
The government will happily announce drastically lower unemployment rates this June. But this is only because it changed the way it counts the country’s jobless, causing them to statistically disappear. BY SANDRA NICOLAS Bulatlat.com The Arroyo administration has a miserable employment record. Despite economic growth that it proudly trumpets, unemployment has been inexorably rising since…
Mine Workers Defy Return-to-Work Order
Can the striking workers at the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo) be blamed for defying the labor department’s order for them to return to work? They have been on strike since June 2 and despite the Benguet provincial government’s intervention, the resolution seems unlikely in the near future as both labor and management stick to…
99 Soldiers Killed in NPA Offensives in 4 Months
30 arms confiscated in Abra province The revolutionary armed group New People’s Army (NPA), in various statements, claims to have killed and wounded as many as 118 government troops and carted off at least 44 high-powered rifles in a series of offensives nationwide the past four months. BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat.com The New People’s…