IBON, a member of the local anti-WTO network Resist WTO! and the global coalition Our World Is Not For Sale , challenges the country’s negotiators at the WTO ministerial to resist the further extension of trade liberalization into manufactured goods and fisheries and instead focus on finding meaningful ways to develop the country’s manufacturing sector.…
Month: December 2005
3-Day Strike at Tommy Hilfiger Shirt Factory Ends
Workers of a clothing factory chose to fight for their benefits and went on strike, a decidedly unfashionable course of action these days. They won – in just three days. by Dennis Espada CABUYAO, Laguna – Workers of a clothing factory producing Tommy Hilfiger shirts decided to engage in what is today an unfashionable course…
Homage to a Fallen Comrade
A human rights advocate, genuine union leader and peasant organizer. Written on a piece of cardboard, the words caught the eyes of visitors arriving at the home of murdered activist Albert Terradaño in Tayum, Abra. And they learned what the words meant when they spoke with his family, friends and comrades. By Kim Quitasol Northern…
Despite P5,000 Xmas bonus Gov’t Employees Slam Arroyo for Low Wages
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced that there will be a P5,000 ($93.60) extra Christmas bonus to all government employees on or before December 15. Why are government employees, particularly public school teachers, still unhappy? BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN Christina Manalo, 51, has been a teacher for 26 years now. She used to be indifferent to the…
P1 Trillion in Revenues Lost Due to WTO Accord
An anti-globalization alliance says the government’s fiscal crisis is all the more exacerbated because the government radically reworked the 1994 tariff rates on imported commodities, leading to a loss of P1 trillion in revenues. BY BULATLAT RESIST, the Philippine network of people’s organizations and sectoral groups opposed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) today said…
700,000 Gov’t Employees to Lose Jobs?
Is there a difference between retirement and retrenchment? Analyzing government policies on the rationalization of the bureaucracy, it appears that government officials want to encourage as much as 50% of the 1.4-million workforce to retire while at the same time giving them minimal retirement benefits. BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN Ibon Foundation, an independent research think-tank,…
A Diagnosis of Public Hospitals
A few days before Health Secretary Francisco Duque visited the Bicol Medical Center (BMC) last Nov. 8, the hospital underwent repair and refurbishing – but only its frontage, some hallways and the garden near the auditorium where Duque dialogued with hospital employees. The rest of the hospital remained glaringly untouched. Such is the state of…
State Atrocities to Continue in 2006
Participants to an interfaith forum held Dec. 8 decried the continuing violations of human rights. The forum was held just a few days after yet another killing of an activist, which led them to project that “state atrocities” will continue in 2006. By Jhong dela Cruz “Enemies of peace have a lot to celebrate at…
4 Anti-WTO Filipino Activists Detained in HK
Solon threatens to file diplomatic protest Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casiño threatens to file diplomatic protest against the Hong Kong government if more Filipinos will be barred from entering Hong Kong for the anti-World Trade Organization (WTO) activities. BY BULATLAT Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casiño threatens to file diplomatic protest against the Hong Kong government…
Palparan’s Men Disperse Tarlac Rights Rally
Before soldiers violently dispersed the rally commemorating human rights in Tarlac, they told the marchers that they were soldiers under Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, chief of the army’s 7th Infantry Division, and “they have the license to kill.” BY ABNER BOLOS SAN MIGUEL, Tarlac City – Soldiers violently dispersed some 500 marchers in front of…
12 Rights Violation Victims Every Hour
From Jan to Nov 2005 First of two parts With almost 100,000 victims of human rights violations, the Macapagal-Arroyo administration proves to have no mercy on political forces calling for the ouster of an illegitimate presidency. With nowhere to go for redress, the victims were constrained to go to two people’s courts this year in…