With Cheaper Medicine Bill, Still No Access to Low-Cost Essential Medicine BY KILOSBAYAN PARA SA KALUSUGAN DEMOCRATIC SPACE Posted by Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 45, December 16-22, 2007 The 14th Congress is wrapping up legislative measures on CHEAPER MEDICINE with the Senate finishing ahead as it approved on third hearing Senate Bill 1658. The lower…

Because of the inaction of the Arroyo government, the burden being caused by the oil price increases is being borne by the driver who has already lost almost half of his/her income, and the consuming public who had to cope with the corresponding increases in the prices of basic commodities, services, and utilities. While on…

It is not the fault of the Jonas Burgoses of this world that they have gone missing. It is not their fault that they have taken active participation in changing our society, and got in trouble. It is not their fault that they are branded “rebels.” Ma, to paraphrase a famous quote, the troubles of…

Finally signed by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on November 15 this year, the Shelter Code is supposed to address the growing homelessness in the city. Non-government organizations consider the new ordinance a triumph. But what does this new law promise a city, where an estimated half a million people are homeless? BY CHERYLL D. FIEL Davao…

Anna is a first year student in UP Diliman (UPD). She is among the first batch of students affected by the approved 300 percent tuition and other fee increases (TFI). Her first semester alone cost her family P17,000 ($413.22 at an exchange rate of $1=P41.14) for 15 units. To pay the P1,000 ($24.30) per unit…

Two years ago, I participated in a basic masses integration (BMI) program that aims to facilitate our integration with and support for workers in their fight for just wage increase and benefits. The goal of our BMI now was to check up on how the workers are two years later. BY ALBERT LAWRENCE IDIA Northern…

A communist leader last week said the government’s P500-million ($12.15-million at an exchange rate of $1:P41.14 as of Dec. 14) amnesty fund supposedly to be released before the year ends will only be a source of corruption. BY ACE ALEGRE Contributed to Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 45, December 16-22, 2007 A communist leader last week…

BY IBON FOUNDATION Posted by Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 45, December 16-22, 2007 The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) this week claimed that the country’s rich-poor gap was narrowing, citing the thinning ratio between the incomes of the top 30 percent and the bottom 30 percent of Filipino families. But independent think-tank IBON Foundation says…

These women may come from different roots and from various fields but all of them have shown exemplary commitment to the service of the people. They are true gems of the Filipino people. BY EMILY VITAL Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 45, December 16-22, 2007 Fourteen women were recipients of this year’s Gawad Eden Marcellana (GEM).…

The new secretary-general of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), the first indigenous person to be elected to the position, vows to support the campaigns of indigenous peoples nationwide against large-scale mining. BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 45, December 16-22, 2007 BAGUIO CITY (246 kms…

The international community has again called on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to decisively put a stop to the extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances in the country, with the call registered recently by Japanese organizations. BY AT BENGWAYAN Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Vol. VII, No. 45, Dec. 16-22, 2007 The international community has…