Unless the government gives full protection and support to the sugar industry, the industry will be gone after 2010, when all the tariffs on imports of agricultural produce, including sugar are removed. If the government adopts a regulation policy, then the sugar industry might survive, according to small sugar landowners. By Karl G. Ombion BACOLOD…
Month: September 2005
First 100% Foreign-owned Mining Firm to Start Commercial Production
Since the Supreme Court ruling in December 2004 calling the 1995 Mining Act as constitutional, the government has turned its high gears to entice foreign mining companies to invest in the Philippines. Of about nine million hectares of potential mining land only 1.4 million hectares are covered by mining permits. An Australian company will start…
Progressive Solons Back Lepanto Mines Strike
After deliberating on the impeachment complaint, is it possible that the House of Representatives will now discuss an issue as local as the plight of striking workers at the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo)? Progressive lawmakers hope so. BY ABIGAIL BENGWAYAN Northern Dispatch BAGUIO CITY — Party-list groups Bayan Muna (BM, or People First), Gabriela…
Death Squad Behind Lawyer’s Killing?
Norman Bocar, the lawyer-activist in Eastern Visayas who had called for President Macapagal-Arroyo’s removal, was shot Sept. 1 in the fashion used for the execution of activists in the region and in Mindoro Oriental. Both places had been placed under the command of now Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan. BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN Was a former…
Latest Killing of Filipino Lawyer Condemned in Asia Pacific Law Conference
BY BULATLAT An international conference of lawyers has denounced the killing of Atty. Norman Bocar last Sept. 1 in Eastern Visayas. Joining the conference in Seoul, South Korea former Indian Supreme Court Justice Jitendra Sharma said Sept. 3 that the Philippines exemplifies the worst example of the attacks against the independence of lawyers and judges.…
NPA Guerrilla’s Mutilated Body Found in Baguio
Do rebels who die in encounters end up with mutilated bodies? This appears to be a normal occurrence for the police who, reports show, do not seem to know the rules of war and engagement, but how does one explain it to the grieving relatives? BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW Northern Dispatch BAGUIO CITY — Joe…
`Cavite Gov Not Just Corrupt, But Also Anti-Farmer’ – Rural Groups
There is more to the embattled governor of Cavite than meets the eye. For long-time residents, particularly the farmers, he should be removed not only because of his penchant for stealing public funds, but also for alleged political repression and militarization of which poor peasants were at the receiving end. BY DENNIS ESPADA DASMARIÑAS, Cavite…
Baguio Urban Poor Push for Charter Change
After the impeachment complaint, the members of the House of Representatives are expected to deliberate on the 2006 national budget and to start the so-called great debate on changing the 1987 Constitution. It may interest legislators to know that the urban poor in Baguio City are calling for charter change, but of a different kind.…
A Community of Their Own
Laughed at, insulted, discriminated, beaten up, oppressed and exploited, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders have been persistent in their struggle for their rights. Slowly but surely, they have moved forward. By Gilbert Pacificar and Bejay Absin Mikaila just finished his first year college education from a local university. Yet he has been initiated into the…
“September terrorist attacks” scenario scripted ? CPP
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denounced Sept. 1 the “September terrorist attack” scenario being raised by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales saying it’s “part of Malacañang script to justify the suppression of mass protests and prevent the possibility of an anti-Arroyo uprising in the wake of the killing of the impeachment process by…
Groups demand probe of OFW beatings in Taiwan
The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) and other Filipino migrant organizations Aug. 30 sent a petition to Taiwan’s Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) on the Aug. 2 beatings of four overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) by security guards of Formosa Plastics Group, one of the biggest factories in the island. Aside from the beatings, the…