What is wrong with a P185-million ($3.69-million) financial assistance program for college students? For one, this will be handled by legislators who were chosen on the basis of their political affiliation. For another, the funds are being released a few months before the 2007 elections. BY JHONG DELA CRUZ Bulatlat.com At first glance, the Emergency…
Day: October 28, 2006
Breaking Peace, Wrecking Lives in San Pablo
San Pablo’s reputation as a quite city has been broken by the recent killing of one of its residents amid the deployment of government soldiers in seven barangays (villages) along the railroad tracks. Now many residents call their city, a “terror zone.” BY DENNIS ESPADA Bulatlat.com San Pablo City, Laguna (82 kms south of Manila)…
Rights Victims to Charge Arroyo in International Tribunal
Since they harbor no illusion that justice will be served in Philippine courts and even in a supposedly independent commission, families of victims of human rights violations have decided to bring their cases to the Permanent People’s Tribunal in the Netherlands. This was the same court that tried the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and found…
40 Farmers Arrested in Lucena
Posted by Bulatlat.com Forty farmers, including four of their leaders, were arrested in Lucena, Quezon while on a protest action Oct. 21 on the occasion of peasant month. About 200 protesters, mostly farmers, were holding a six-day farmers’ camp out in front of Don Domingo Reyes’ mansion in Brgy. Cotta, Lucena when the Philippine National…
Mines Operations Endanger UNESCO World Heritage Site
Palawan, the largest protected area in the Philippines and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is facing once again the ill-effects of mining operations. Catholic bishops and environmentalist groups are calling for a responsible mining policy to the outright revocation of all mining applications. Posted by Bulatlat.com While the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR)…
Cordillera Peasants, Women Hold ‘Foodless Day’; Earth’s 854 Million People Go Hungry Everyday
Representatives from Innabuyog-GABRIELA, an alliance of indigenous women, and the Alyansa dagiti Pesante iti Taeng Kordilyera (Apit-Tako or Peasant Alliance in the Cordillera Homeland), have come together to address the World Rural Women’s Day and the World Food Day. The economic crisis in the country, especially in the rural areas, is worsening, they say. BY…
Bungkalan in Hacienda Luisita: Dreams Realized, One Tilled Hectare at a Time
“Tiyaga lang talaga” (patience is all it takes), a cane worker says as he joins other farmers till idle lands waiting to be cultivated in Hacienda Luisita. They would not let the rich soil be left unattended. BY REYNA MAE TABBADA Bulatlat.com The residents of Barangay Asturias, one of the ten barrios in Hacienda Luisita,…
On the October Bombings on Mindanao: ‘These are the Handiwork of Groups Opposing Peace’
The bombings that took place in Mindanao earlier this month are the handiwork of people who want the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to completely collapse, the spokesperson of the Moro revolutionary group said. These, he said, are people who are…
Communique’ of the 3rd IAPL Congress
October 16 2006 Davao City, Philippines The 3rd Congress of the International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) was successfully held in Davao City from 12-14 October 2006. 7 people’s lawyers from Belgium, Brazil, India, Netherlands and Turkey and 1 activist law student from Afghanistan participated as foreign delegates. 17 people’s lawyers coming from different human…
So Young, So Committed, and So Much in Danger
Even as young lawyers, they have witnessed injustices being committed as they chose to defend the oppressed. And because they persist in handling “controversial” cases, Jobert Pahilga and Noel Neri have earned the ire of some of the country’s most powerful landlords and capitalists, as well as state security forces, and have become victims themselves…
The Bigger Picture
This is the latest in the wave of illegal, criminal assaults by a politically isolated regime against those who have the will and the capacity to bring about the broad united front of political forces necessary in order to rid the country of Mrs. Arroyo’s dastardly leadership. BY CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO Business World Posted by Bulatlat.com…