The demise of Philippine-made shoes is a result of decades of government neglect and intensified by just a few years of aggressive liberalization under the World Trade Organization. By JP Andaquig IBON Features Shoemaking has always been the bread and butter of...
An anti-globalization alliance says the government’s fiscal crisis is all the more exacerbated because the government radically reworked the 1994 tariff rates on imported commodities, leading to a loss of P1 trillion in revenues. BY BULATLAT RESIST, the Philippine...
Is there a difference between retirement and retrenchment? Analyzing government policies on the rationalization of the bureaucracy, it appears that government officials want to encourage as much as 50% of the 1.4-million workforce to retire while at the same time...
A few days before Health Secretary Francisco Duque visited the Bicol Medical Center (BMC) last Nov. 8, the hospital underwent repair and refurbishing - but only its frontage, some hallways and the garden near the auditorium where Duque dialogued with hospital...
Participants to an interfaith forum held Dec. 8 decried the continuing violations of human rights. The forum was held just a few days after yet another killing of an activist, which led them to project that “state atrocities” will continue in 2006. By Jhong dela...
Before soldiers violently dispersed the rally commemorating human rights in Tarlac, they told the marchers that they were soldiers under Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, chief of the army’s 7th Infantry Division, and “they have the license to kill.” BY ABNER BOLOS SAN...
From Jan to Nov 2005 First of two parts With almost 100,000 victims of human rights violations, the Macapagal-Arroyo administration proves to have no mercy on political forces calling for the ouster of an illegitimate presidency. With nowhere to go for redress, the...
Second of two parts Justice remains elusive for the almost 100,000 human rights victims. Since the victims have nowhere else to go, two people’s initiatives to ferret out the truth on the issues hounding the president were organized this year. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA...
Siyuan Tundag, an Ata-Manobo, has seen the worst as her people struggled to keep capitalist intruders out of their ancestral land. But she remains a steadfast Lumad and a voice of her tribe’s tribulations. By Cheryll D. Fiel TALAINGOD, the Philippines --- Treks...
The Catholic Church and the Davao City government are waging a fierce battle against each other over contraception. Women like Hazel Baraw get caught in the crossfire. By Germelina A. Lacorte DAVAO CITY -- Life for Hazel Baraw, 28, hardly changed after she got...
How the new value-added tax law adds to the suffering of Davao’s women and mothers. By Grace Uddin DAVAO CITY – Ever since her husband, a house painter, started getting fewer clients last year, Miranda, a 41-year-old mother of one, started working as a bet taker in...
The series of violent incidents in Diwalwal last October - a huge fire, a gas poisoning, and a cave-in - could be part of the plot by vested-interest groups to drive small-scale miners out of Mount Diwalwal. By Daisy C. Gonzales DIWALWAL, the Philippines -- Alma...
As a struggling lesbian writer, where shall I find a literary mother? By Jhoanna Lynn B. Cruz Northern Dispatch A lesbian who does not reinvent the world is a lesbian in the process of disappearing. -- Nicole Brossard The silence surrounding the lesbian in...
The streets of Davao still seethe with the indignation of the thousands of Nenas, Lydas, Indays and Juanas who, decades before, had given birth to one of the country's most active and determined women's movement. By Cheryll D. Fiel DAVAO CITY -- A boy who must have...
How do you tackle a problem as serious and complex as the various crises afflicting the Philippine environment? Environmental historian Prof. Rowena Boquiren proposes a simple and creative solution: for everyone who has come to learn the true state of the...
Ang Kasalukuyang Panulaang Makabayan sa Panahon ng Krisis at Rebolusyon Ang halaga ng tula ay sinusukat sa sugpungan ng rebolusyong pangkultura at sistemang malakolonyal at malapyudal, ng rebolusyong pangkultura at digmang bayan, ng rebolusyong pangkultura at...
It was at the same time a tribute concert to poet-revolutionary leader Andres Bonifacio – whose 142nd birthday fell that day – and a protest concert calling for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The concert was organized by the Artists for the...
Review of the CD album Songs of Struggle and Liberation Produced by the Euro-Philippine Inter-Cultural Solidarity (EPICS) Manufactured and distributed in the Philippines by IBON Foundation The artists behind Songs of Love and Struggle are at it again. But this...
The Philippines hosts United States soldiers allegedly tasked with training their counterparts in the Philippine Armed Forces. Six of these soldiers are accused of raping a 22-year old Filipina—an event that has correctly provoked questions on the wisdom of the...
Many municipalities and provinces have suffered financing shortfalls causing the diversion of health funds to other priorities. There was also no prior development of health staff including those retained by the DoH, or local government executives and officials for...
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