By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat Perspective | Bulatlat.com The August 26 Luneta protest activity attended by tens to hundreds of thousands from all walks of life has jolted the Aquino administration. It is now in a quandary on what to do with the pork barrel, which it is trying to repackage, and how to save its…
Month: August 2013
With planned MRT, LRT fare hike, public to ‘subsidize’ profits of private concessionaires – RILES Network
Citing financial statements culled from past public consultations with DOTC and train operators, RILES Network said the real cost of a single ride ticket, which already covers the maintenance and operation, is only P9.50 ($0.21). What the government has been “subsidizing” is the difference between the current fare and the P60 ($1.35) per passenger fare it guaranteed to private concessionaires.
Bulatlat.com wins in Red Cross humanitarian reporting
“Their stories and images illustrated the heavy toll of conflicts on civilians – with some looking through the eyes of children who are the more vulnerable in these situations. All the finalists showed that reporting on conflict need not be sensationalized or focused only on the conflict or on the peace negotiations.” – Pascal Mauchle, ICRC head of delegation to the Philippines
Dear taxpayers
By RONALYN V. OLEA Bulatlat.com Dear taxpayers, Good day! I was happy to see many of you at the Rizal Park expressing your disgust over the immoral, scandalous pork barrel. As I took photos and went around, I overheard not a few of you rant about how much taxes you pay every year just to…
Tens of thousands gather vs. pork barrel as Aquino gov’t skirts the issue
What could the P10 billion government officials, in collusion with Janet-Lim Napoles, buy? It could finance free health care services for Filipinos for five years; it could finance the rice production of half a million peasants; and it could provide scholarships to a lot of deserving students so that no student would have to go through the desperation and helplessness felt by the late Kristel Tejada.
Groups bewail killing of another anti-SMI Xstrata mining leader, son
BAYAN Socsksargen spokesperson Ryan Lariba slammed SMI which was “downsizing other components of its operation, but not the military component.”
‘Teaching items for sale’, other corrupt practices prevalent in some public schools – ACT
The principal of a public school in a province in northern Luzon allegedly asked newly-hired teachers to pay P50,000 each.
A choice between fighting for their homes or living in neglected relocation sites
The relocation site for urban poor families living along Road 10, North Harbor is right in the middle of a rice field. The houses are poorly constructed with no electricity, water supply; and there are no livelihood opportunities.
Indigenous peoples deplore Aquino government ‘snub’ of their agenda
Against the 156 processed Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles, of which only 37 were registered, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples issued a total of 320 certifications allowing mining operations.
OFWs hold protests abroad vs pork barrel
MANILA – Overseas Filipino Workers abroad held their own protest actions calling for the abolition of the pork barrel system, in solidarity with the Million People’s March protest today, Aug. 26. OFWs in Hong Kong already jumpstarted the protest with a picket at the Philippine Consulate last Aug. 22. On Aug. 24 Filipinos in New…
People power: Disgust over the pork barrel system and corruption
For the first time, the Aquino administration, which rode on the people’s disgust over the scandalous corruption under the previous Arroyo government to propel Benigno Aquino III – who was never remarkable during his stint in Congress – to Malacañang, is facing the people’s wrath over, of all things, corruption and the pork barrel system. This is the biggest challenge that the Aquino government, which claims it is trekking the daang matuwid, is facing. The broadness of the protest activity today is strikingly similar to that of Edsa 1, in which, ironically, his mother the late president Corazon Aquino was the icon of. Luneta, where the protest activity would be held today August 26, was also the site of Corazon Aquino’s Tagumpay ng Bayan (People’s Victory Rally) on February 16, 1986, where she launched a civil disobedience campaign to force the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to vacate Malacañang.