By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
and MARYA SALAMAT
A study on abortion in the Philippines argues that the government has committed violations of human rights by criminalizing abortion regardless of circumstance. Another study, done by Gabriela, finds that abortion is increasingly becoming acceptable to Filipinos.
In the Philippines, there is today an alarming trend on incidences of abortion that, because these are forced to be done clandestinely, have also often been unsafe.
'Bungkalan' Improved Lives of Farmers
After the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council ordered the revocation of the SDO in Hacienda Luisita, the farmer beneficiaries launched what they call a "bungkalan" or the cultivation of idle Luisita land. It was both a political statement and a matter of survival for the farm workers who were facing extreme poverty in the hacienda owned by President Benigno S. Aquino III and his family. Farmers who participated swear that their lives improved after the "bungkalan." 
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In this webcast, Lito Bais, president of the United Luisita Workers Union, Felix Nakpil and Federico Laza of Ambala, and Atty. Jobert Pahilga, lawyer for the farm workers, talk about the compromise agreement wangled by Hacienda Luisita management. They enumerate the alleged deception by the Cojuangco-Aquinos. 
Watch the webcast
Luisita Farmers Endure Harassment
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Jobert Pahilga, lawyer of the farm workers’ group Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Hacienda Luisita (Ambala), enumerates some of the provisions of the compromise agreement that are inimical to the interest of the farm workers.
Jobert Ilarde Pahilga, the lawyer of Hacienda Luisita farmers challenging the stock distribution option (SDO) being implemented in the plantation owned by the family of President Benigno S. Aquino III, explains in this "video primer" the SDO, why the Cojuangco-Aquino family was hell-bent on it, why the lives of the farmers did not improve in spite of it, and why these farmers and peasants are opposed to it. Watch the video
President Benigno S. Aquino III can be held equally liable for what progressive groups have described as a “sham” deal involving his family’s Hacienda Luisita.
Jobert Ilarde Pahilga, the lawyer for the farm workers in Hacienda Luisita, said HLI’s compromise agreement is “the third time that the Cojuangcos-Aquinos betrayed agrarian reform and the HLI farm workers.”
his is a copy, which Sentra emailed to Bulatlat, of the compromise agreement between Hacienda Luisita Inc. and the farm workers.
By DABET CASTAÑEDA
In 2004, Bulatlat.com published a two-part investigative report on Hacienda Luisita, its troubled history, and the struggle of the farmers and workers for land and justice. The first part, For Land and Wages: Half a Century of Peasant Struggle in Hacienda Luisita, talks about the lives of the farmers and the events that led to the strike and massacre. The second part, Poorly Paid Workers Lose Jobs — and Homes, Too, exposes the toll the conflict had on the peasants.
Click here for more Bulatlat stories and multimedia content on Hacienda Luisita.
This is the full report of "Forsaken Lives:The Harmful Impact of the Philippine Criminal Abortion Ban," which the Center for Reproductive Rights released in Manila on Aug. 2, 2010. The report details the impact of the outlawing of abortion, without exception, in...
Migrante International launched a petition campaign on Tuesday at the seafarers’ recruitment center in T.M. Kalaw, Manila, denouncing the recent increase in e-passport fees, in light of allegations that the contract entered into by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for the procurement of the new e-passport is illegal and tainted with corruption.
By MARYA SALAMAT
The mass resignation of PAL pilots, the notice of strike filed by the cabin crew union, the struggle of ground employees against mass termination and contractualization -- all of these are interrelated. “It all stems from Lucio Tan’s moves to increase his profits even more by intensifying the exploitation of all his employees in the aviation industry.”
Related story: As Though 11-Year CBA Suspension Not Enough, PAL Employees Face Layoffs, Contractualization
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“It is inhumane for the court to order a nursing mother to go back to prison with her newborn child. We could only imagine [Carina's] turmoil as none could be more horrid for a mother than the thought of her child being put in peril,” said Joms Salvador, deputy secretary-general of Gabriela.
By Sheldon Richman Information Clearing House Posted by Bulatlat Those who understand the exploitative nature of big government suspected that the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks had little to do with the security of the American people and much to do with power...
By NICK DAVIES and DAVID LEIGH The Guardian UK/Commondreams.org Posted by Bulatlat A huge cache of secret US military files today provides a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in...
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
The KMP promises to continue the struggle for the rights and welfare of Filipino peasants. "We would continue fighting for a genuine agrarian reform program with the main goal of free land distribution," said Rep. Rafael Mariano.
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