By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com MANILA — After their latest round of formal negotiations with the government of the Philippines in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Mohagher Iqbal, chair of the MILF peace panel, talked briefly with bulatlat.com to share his group’s take of the current state of their ongoing peace talks with the Philippine government. Iqbal mainly…
Month: July 2011
Progressive groups belie Aquino’s declared achievements
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
There can be no ‘Pilipinas Natin’ when majority of the people are poor, when 11 million are jobless and when millions experience hunger. There can be no ‘Pilipinas Natin’ if vast tracts of land are owned by a few families like the Cojuangco-Aquinos.” – Bayan
Photo of the Week: Construction workers
BAGUIO CITY — With the strong typhoon veering out of the country and will not be affecting the archipelago anymore, workers at a house construction here double time to finish their jobs before another typhoon comes that will bring rains and stall further them. Photo by Artemio A. Dumlao (Bulatlat.com)
Street Shooter: Tribal Music
Ifugao tribesmen play their gongs as they wait for a community meeting to start to discuss the ill effects of foreign mining in their ancestral land. (Alimit, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya)
To grab land of settlers and indigenous folk, Aurora officials sow disunity, fear
By LYN V. RAMO Bulatlat.com Main Story: Economic zone project to evict thousands of farmers, fisherfolk in Casiguran, Aurora CASIGURAN, Aurora – An Agta resident here, who has been living here, tending several coconut trees, fruit trees, and has been doing wet-season rice planting in the heart of the Casiguran peninsula, some 500 kilometers north…
Aurora eco-zone project to displace thousands of farmers, fisherfolk
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“Development does not mean wiping out communities of farmers, fisherfolk and indigenous peoples.” – Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson
Sidebar:
Aurora govt officials sow disunity, fear among indigenous peoples, settlers to grab their lands
Moro groups slam postponement of ARMM elections
By MARYA SALAMAT
“Saying that the ARMM needs reform and (that these) can only be done when Aquino appoints an OIC [officer-in-charge] is an act of chauvinism by Aquino against the Moro people and the constituents of ARMM.” – Ba Ali Indayla, secretary-general of KAWAGIB.
Rights groups criticize Aquino gov’t for continuing violations, failure to act on calls for justice
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“The Aquino administration has been contented in being a passive spectator, leaving the victims, relatives, human rights defenders and their lawyers on their own.” – National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers
Farmers say Aquino’s first year in office a ‘colossal failure’
by INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO Bulatlat.com One after after his inauguration as the Philippines’ 15th president, Benigno Simeon Aquino III has not won any fans from farmers organizations in the country. The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas minced no words in describing Aquino’s first year in office, saying that it was a “colossal failure” and that…
Aquino support for coal-fired plants slammed; groups say he lacks ‘environmental leadership’
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
“Instead of making polluters pay, the national government pays polluters. Aquino condoned billions of pesos in terms of tax liabilities and obligations of foreign and private operators of coal plants.” – Kalikasan