More than three years after Lafayette, an Australian mining company, wrought havoc on Rapu-Rapu and its neighboring communities, residents are still reeling from the effects of the mine-tailings disaster. And they fear more threats as the mining operations resume.
Sidebar: A Mother Grapples With the Poverty Caused by Mining
BY NOEL SALES BARCELONA Correspondent CULTURE Bulatlat Not all Filipinos are aware of the historical importance of May 14. On May 14, 1903, Aurelio Tolentino (October 13, 1867-July 3, 1915), a Pampango playwright, poet, essayist, educator, novelist and public servant was arrested because of his play, Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas (Larawan ng Inang Bayan). Kahapon,…
BY JUAN ANGELO A. HONGO Bulatlat With over ten thousand OFWs stranded in different countries, 41 migrant victims in death row, and over 23 mysterious deaths of migrants, could the Arroyo administration be far from being tagged as a “migrant killer”? One of them is Emy Pepito. With dreams of having a better life and…
BY MARILOU AGUIRRE-TUBURAN MIGRANT WATCH Davao Today Posted by Bulatlat DAVAO CITY — Unlike most overseas Filipino workers who lost their jobs in Taiwan, Isabelita Atis, 29, felt relieved when her plane finally touched down at the Davao International Airport in December last year. She was among the 6,468 thousand overseas Filipinos laid-off in Taiwan…
BY CJ KUIZON LABOR WATCH Davao Today Posted by Bulatlat DAVAO CITY – The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in Southern Mindanao is wary of the proposal to amend the Constitution to open up the country’s resources to foreign companies, saying such proposal will only result to unfair working conditions for workers. Arman Blasé, KMU-Southern Mindanao…
BY BENJIE OLIVEROS ANALYSIS Bulatlat Vanessa and Gadian provide two more reasons why the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) should be abrogated and the Balikatan joint US-Philippine military exercises be stopped. Vanessa is a 22-year-old student who recently came out in a press conference with the women’s group GABRIELA and Evalyn Ursua, former counsel of Subic…
Rape of Philippine Sovereignty. The recent surfacing of a Filipino who claimed she was raped by a US Marine, so soon after the overturning of Lance Corporal Daniel Smith’s conviction by the Court of Appeals, shows that for so long as the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) is in force and the Balikatan military exercises are being held, there will be more victims of rape and other forms of sexual aggression by US soldiers. (By Flon Faurillo/Bulatlat.com)
NI ROLAND TOLENTINO KULTURANG POPULAR KULTURA Bulatlat Ang mga insidente ng panggagahasa ng kababaihan ng US servicemen ay nagpapatuloy dahil patuloy na sistematikong pagbibigay-presensya sa mga ito sa bansa. Lampas nang isang siglong may Amerikanong sundalo sa bansa, may base militar man sila o wala. Kahit walang formal na base militar na itinatag, sa dispalsipikadong…
BY CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO Streetwise/Business World Posted by Bulatlat Cheche Lazaro, a veteran and multi-awarded journalist, who has maintained her independence from the two big networks dominating the broadcast industry in the Philippines by having her own production outfit, would be the last media person one would expect to be on the receiving end of a…
Unshod. It looks like this used-shoe salesman on Rizal Avenue, in Sta. Cruz, Manila, is too poor to afford his own pair of shoes. (Photo by Raymund Villanueva/Bulatlat.com)
BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW Northern Dispatch INDIGENOUS PEOPLES WATCH Posted by Bulatlat BAGUIO CITY (246 kms north of Manila) — One hundred years since the United States Supreme Court ruled in favour of Mateo Cariño’s ancestral land claim, this city, which would be 100 years old on Sept. 1, still does not have a clear-cut…