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News in Pictures: In Solidarity with The Cuban 5

In solidarity with the people of Cuba, the International League of People's Struggles (ILPS-Philippines) and the Philippines-Cuba Friendship Association (Amistad) held a protest action near the US embassy in Manila on Monday, urging the US government to free the Cuban 5.
Catholic Bishops to Aquino: Fulfill Pro-Poor Platform, Ignore Luisita SDO
“The president cannot feign neutrality in this issue, for his silence and inaction will mean an implicit endorsement of the unjust compromise deal orchestrated by Cojuangco-owned HLI,” the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said in a statement.
Aquino’s Extension of Arroyo’s Dreaded Oplan Bantay Laya Draws Fire from Victims’ Kin

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
President Benigno S. Aquino III is “doing the exact opposite of his pronouncement that he will put closure to the human-rights violations of Arroyo and her cohorts. As commander-in-chief, he allowed the AFP to extend the counter-insurgency plan which was proven to have violated human rights.” Read more stories on Oplan Bantay Laya
SC Justices Demolish Cojuangco-Aquinos’ Justifications for Giving Farmers ‘Pieces of Paper’ Instead of Land

By MARYA SALAMAT
Highlights in Wednesday’s oral arguments at the Supreme Court: Why farmers' shares of stocks were diluted, why new workers who were not party to the SDO in 1989 were given new shares, why shares were distributed within 15 years and not within three years as the law required, why the estate should not have been fragmented, why PARC’s revocation order is not a violation of the Bill of Rights, and why HLI’s failure to get DAR's "compliance certificate" could put SDO in trouble.
Watch Bulatlat's video primer on the SDO | Read more about the SDO
All Eyes Today on SC as Farm Workers, Cojuangco-Aquinos Battle Over Luisita

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Lawmaker says Supreme Court itself will be on trial. “The Hacienda Luisita land dispute is the first acid test of the Supreme Court under the Aquino administration. The Cojuangco-Aquinos have put the Supreme Court on trial here,” says Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano.
Friday the 13th ‘Massacre’ at ABS-CBN as Media Giant Axes 37 More Workers

By MARYA SALAMAT
The ABS-CBN IJM Workers Union asks President Aquino to stop the illegal dismissals, contractualization and union-busting at his “favorite” media network.
Confessions of a ‘Yellow Armyman’
A former member of the Yellow Army and supervisor of Hacienda Luisita who admitted to being one of campaigners for the Stock Distribution Option in 1989 tell how he did so -- and why they are going against it today.
Abelardo Ladera: The Hero of Luisita
Before the coffin bearing the remains of Tarlac City Councilor Abel Ladera, the ninth Hacienda Luisita martyr, was buried, it was opened for his family and barriomates one last time. It took however almost an hour before the people could finish their goodbye: young ones took pictures of him with their cellular phones; the older ones patted the coffin, with whispers of “Salamat po, salamat po” (thank you, thank you) while a woman asked with a break in her voice, “Bakit ka nila pinatay, wala na kaming kasama.” (Why did they kill you, we no longer have someone to help us.)
Mayhem in Labor Chief’s Power: Workers Say ‘Assumption of Jurisdiction’ Is Anti-Labor
The labor secretary’s “assumption of jurisdiction” power is being used to ban all strikes and has caused bloodshed in the workers front. This is like reliving martial law, militant labor unions say.
Tarlac Councilor Is 9th Luisita Martyr; Victim’s Kin Finger Cojuangcos, Military as Suspects
From his humble beginnings as a sugar worker, City Councilor Abelardo R. Ladera emerged as one of the few successful local political figures who openly stood against the Cojuangco-Aquino dynasty in Tarlac. Ladera was gunned down at high noon of March 3 making him Tarlac’s first local official assassinated in the post-dictator era.
Massacre Shooters Go Berserk in Luisita, Claim 8th Victim
Shots shattered the evening calm as a peasant leader, Marcelino Beltran, went out of his house to greet some “visitors.” The visitors pumped bullets into his body and he died two hours later – the eighth to fall following the Nov. 16 massacre of seven farmers at Hacienda Luisita.
The Hacienda Luisita Massacre: How It Happened
The violence that marred the strike of plantation and milling workers of the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita on Nov. 16 was bound to happen and government authorities may have to account for it.
Abortion Nation: Dire Human-Rights Crisis in Face of Increasing Acceptance

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.
Gabriela Research Finds Abortion in Philippines ‘Increasingly Accepted’
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.
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