By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com MANILA -- As the Philippines commemorate the 39th year since former President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, youth and progressive artists 'planked' to denounce the continuing human rights violations despite the supposed...
Mrs. Edita Burgos, widow of the late press freedom icon Joe Burgos and mother of missing activist Jonas, is a witness of the oppression of the Filipino people during the martial law period.
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
“Spending on SUCs and education is an investment to develop our country’s human resources. Congress and the Aquino government should rethink its misguided priorities and realign funds from foreign debt, CCTs, and military spending in favor of education and social services.” – JC Alejandro, League of Filipino Students
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
"The financial cost of repaying the capital investment of Private Finance Initiative investors is therefore considerably greater than the equivalent repayment of direct government investment." – England's House of Commons Treasury Committee
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com MANILA -- An urban poor group said it is high time for the government to take the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines seriously and to look into the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms...
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com MANILA -- Government employees criticized President Benigno S. Aquino III's proposed $234.9 million Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund for 2012, saying that it was "unconscionable considering the deplorable poverty experienced...
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com MANILA -- Mrs. Edita Burgos, mother of desaparecidos Joseph Jonas Burgos, said on Tuesday that the failure of the commanding officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and its Criminal Investigation and Detection Group...
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com MANILA -- London-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and Kabataan Partylist aid poor government spending on higher education is probably behind the drop in rankings of the top universities in the county. "This may come as a...
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com MANILA -- The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police failed to present three of its witnesses during the Court of Appeals hearing on September 7, 2011 on Jonas Burgos's enforced...
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
The eyewitness, a busboy at the restaurant where Jonas Burgos was abducted, said he was about to help Jonas when a woman and three men approached him, one after another, to tell him not to intervene. One of them he later identified as Maj. Harry Baliaga Jr, who was then assigned to the 56th Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Literally, Pangarap Village is the fulfillment of the dreams of the residents. The land was awarded to them in 1973 by then president Ferdinand E. Marcos. But the Aranetas came back to once more stake its claim to the land, emboldened by a Supreme Court order in 1988 and the ascension to power of one of their own Mar Roxas.
SECOND PART: Aquinos and Aranetas conspiring vs ‘land to the landless’ and the urban poor
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com FIRST PART: Aranetas’ claim to the their land turn residents’ hopes and dreams into a nightmare (Second of two parts) Fortades and Gomez were killed when the security guards of Araneta's Carmen Development Inc., allegedly drunk,...
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com MANILA -- Residents of Sitio San Roque in Quezon City remain vigilant even after Mayor Herbert Bautista have extended the deadline for the demolition of their homes. "It is hard to be poor because we are always neglected by our...
Video courtesy of KODAO PRODUCTIONS and COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS UNION
NDFP panel's Luis Jalandoni and Coni Ledesma talk about updates on the postponed peace talks between the Government of the Philippines and NDFP.
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
"Why is it becoming harder to be of service to your fellow Blaan? What does the government want us to do?" - Blaan Teacher
SECOND PART: Encampment in communities, instilling fear, part of ‘peace and development’ operations?
Sidebar: Neglected, Blaans unite, empower themselves
Sidebar: News in Pictures: Suffer the little children to go to this school
Sidebar: Slideshow: In Upper Suyan Village, children suffer the worst from poverty, militarization
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com DLUMAY, Sarangani -- (Second of two parts) In an effort to document the human rights violations being perpetrated on the Blaans, Clans organized a peace and solidarity mission to visit Sitio Dlumay. More than 150 reporters and...
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
"Our lives as Blaans are not affected no matter who wins the national elections. It is these non-government agencies who have been doing a big chunk of their work to improve our lives. So no one could take that away from us."
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com DLUMAY, Sarangani -- We were trekking the Lunkan Range for nearly six hours. Exhausted and thirsty, I was desperate to reach Sitio Dlumay at the soonest possible time. There was hardly an opportunity to crack a joke regarding...
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In Upper Suyan, the children suffer