Since two years ago when banana plantation and packing workers began forming unions and agitating for legally mandated minimum wage rates, soldiers from the 28th Infantry Battalion have also started harassing them in their barangays (villages). The harassments took a more violent turn with the shooting of union president Vicente Barrios and four other unionists…
Ronalyn V. Olea
Open-Pit Mining Destroyed Village in Zambales
It was as if a giant used a shovel to gouge the face of the mountain in Barangay Buhawen, San Marcelino, Zambales. Below the towering rocky façade, reddish-black liquid formed a pool of poison. This is the legacy of open pit mining 15 years ago. And now mining companies are about to come back with…
Furor Over JPEPA: Will Davao’s Banana Workers Benefit From It?
A controversial bilateral trade agreement between the Philippines and Japan promises enormous economic opportunities for Filipinos, among them agricultural producers such as the banana workers and growers in the Davao regions. That, at least, is the Arroyo administration’s line. What they’re not telling the public is that, apart from the environmental hazards it poses, the…
As ASEAN Summit nears Rights Abuses Intensify in Cebu
Progressive organizations based in Cebu City decried the overkill in the security preparations for the coming ASEAN Summit. “Frantic preparations for the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Cebu have thrown the provincial government in a militarist state of panic,” said lawyer Alfonso Cinco, chairperson of Karapatan-Cebu. BY EMILY VITAL Bulatlat Progressive organizations based in Cebu City…
ASEAN and the U.S. Agenda in Asia
With the onset of the “war on terror” and the increasing political and economic importance of ASEAN to the whole of Asia and the Pacific, the U.S. appears to be out to increasingly use the organization as a region-wide mechanism for meeting its objectives in the sub-region and beyond BY SONNY AFRICA IBON Foundation Posted…
UP Manila Wears Black in Fight vs Tuition, Other Increases
Black was the color of the day for students at the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila last November 23. The death of the university, after all, is said to result from the plan of the UP administration to increase tuition and other fees. BY REYNA MAE TABBADA Bulatlat It was a day of fighting,…
Students Oppose Tuition Increase, Demand Refund
Last November 24, as the people of Manila went out of their houses, schools and offices to welcome boxing champ Manny Pacquiao, students from various colleges and universities also took to the streets for a different reason: to call for a stop to tuition and other fee increases and for a refund in previous increases.…
‘Going Down the Drain’ Foreign investors asked to withdraw from Arroyo’s flagship mining project
Philippine environmentalists will bring the controversial Lafayette mining project to international forums and ask foreign investors to withdraw as the operation violates environmental standards and local community rights. BY BULATLAT Environmental activists affiliated with the Defend Patrimony! alliance and Kalikasan-Peoples Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) Nov. 24 vowed to increase international pressure on mining investors…
In Canada: Filipino Professionals End Up in Low-Paying Jobs
Why is it that despite having high levels of education among Filipino immigrants, most of them end up in lower-paying jobs, resulting in an average income lower than that of most Canadian immigrants? BY BULATLAT Why is it that despite high levels of education among Filipino immigrants, most of them end up in lower-paying jobs,…
Troops in Metro: For Demolition or Rebel Hunting?
Regular soldiers are sent to Metro Manila to help secure military facilities and Malacanang in times of red alert. For the first time since martial law, however, at least 40 soldiers are now holed up in Pandacan and villagers are puzzled what they are there for. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat PANDACAN, Manila – Chief Inspector…
Canadian Envoy Tells Arroyo to Listen to Appeals on Killings As members of a Canadian fact-finding mission are held by the military
The Canadian ambassador has asked President Arroyo to listen to international appeals for a stop to the political killings in the Philippines, reminding her that his country’s aid is tied to “good governance.” By Bulatlat Expressing concern over the reported spate of political killings in the Philippines, the Canadian ambassador to Manila has asked the…