Calls to stop the Australian-owned Lafayette Polymetallic Mining Project in Rapu-Rapu island, Albay have grown stronger as thousands of residents are going hungry and even sick after a recent fish kill hit barangays (villages) located near its mining site. BY LISA ITO Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 40, November 11-17, 2007 Calls to stop the Australian-owned…

Jocelyn Dulnuan may be dead. But her spirit lives on in the hearts and minds of her compatriots in Canada and in the efforts of community leaders and coalition members of the Jocelyn Dulnuan Support Committee whose calls for policy changes and continuing search for justice are echoing in various memorial services across Ontario. She…

The father of Marilou Ranario, an OFW who is on death row in Kuwait for allegedly killing her employer, is disappointed to learn that her daughter is still on death row despite the reported forgiveness by the family of the victim. BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN MIGRANT WATCH Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 40, Nov. 11-17, 2007…

Gladys Adonis, the wife of jailed Davao Alexander “Lex” Adonis, said her husband has been admitted to the prison hospital in early October. She said Adonis, an anchorman of Bombo Radio-Davao sentenced to four and a half years in prison early this year, had been feeling utterly “abandoned and depressed,” and is thinking of ending…

As the Senate is set to conduct public hearings on the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), a newly formed group composed of legislators, researchers and community leaders denounced the JPEPA’s ill-effects on agriculture. BY IBON Foundation Posted by Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 40, November 11-17, 2007 Members of No Deal! JPEPA, a movement against unequal…

Senator Ma. Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal said last week that business interests who will benefit from the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) are lobbying senators who are presidential hopefuls in the 2010 national elections to ratify the one-sided treaty. BY GERRY ALBERT CORPUZ Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 40, November 11-17-2007 Senator Ma. Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal…

Filipino workers in Japanese firms based in Southern Tagalog oppose the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). They shared their stories of struggle against what they deem as “greed for profit of Japanese investors at the expense of labor.” BY EMILY VITAL Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 40, November 11-17, 2007 Filipino workers in Japanese firms based…

The 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the GRP and the MNLF is set to be reviewed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the next few days. The MNLF said it has been demanding such review of the said pact for several years. BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 40, November 11-17, 2007 The 1996…

Last Oct. 22-25, various progressive organizations held a fact-finding mission on several coastal communities of Guihulngan City and Vallehermoso in Negros Oriental and San Carlos City and Calatrava in Negros Occidental. The FFM was prompted by the scheduled start, on Nov. 10, of the exploration drilling to an area in the waters off the western…

BY KILUSANG MAGBUBUKID NG PILIPINAS ALTERNATIVE READER Posted by Bulatlat Vol. VII, no. 40, November 11-17, 2007 *(An article written in the “Handbook on the impact of IRRI in Asia: The Great Rice Robbery”. The book is part of a continuing campaign of the Week of Rice Action (WORA) 2007 held from March 29 to…