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By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
"What use do I have for school if we lose our home? My parents work as vendors in Makati, I attend school in the nearby high school. If we lose our house, we will be forced to live on the streets. I'm here because I want to help defend our community. We're poor, but we have dignity. They can't just drive us out like we're wild animals," said Jeffrey, 17.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Despite evidences and eyewitnesses, the accused killers of Olalia and Alay-ay, thirteen known members of RAM, have so far evaded arrest by invoking the amnesty granted them after their failed coups.
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Press freedom advocates said the new law could also be used to justify the shutdown of websites that are critical to the government without the necessity of a court warrant and in keeping with the Marcosian tradition of curtailing the freedoms of expression and opinion.
By MARYA SALAMAT
“They [big corporations] have, for years, raked in profits by pressing down workers’ wages and pushing back the hard-earned gains of the country’s labor movement. They have been able to widen the disparity between the affluent minority and the poor and hungry majority in the country – a situation that violates the principles of social justice.”
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
"The challenge is for us to truly see, closely analyze and scrutinize the current situation in the Philippines, the state of human rights, the corruption of those in power and the poverty of the Filipino people. We remember martial law and the sacrifices fighting it entailed… Forty-years after, we affirm it's greatest lesson: to serve the people in all ways possible." – Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Bayan
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Aside from coming out with its program of action for the protection of children, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines announced that it will establish a Special Office for the Protection of Children to strengthen its mechanisms on monitoring and defending the rights of Filipino children.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
To further its advocacy for genuine change, the Makabayan Coalition will try to send one of its own to the Senate in 2013.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Issues regarding the valuation of the land, the verification of beneficiaries, the previous sale of parcels of land and the claim of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation still stand in the way of the actual distribution of the land of Hacienda Luisita to the farmworkers; and the farmworkers fear what would happen when these issues reach the Sereno-led Supreme Court.
Sidebar: Luisita farmworkers determined to fight for their land
By MARYA SALAMAT
Progressive groups are criticizing the Independent Oil Price Review Committee for limiting itself to ‘surface data’ and refusing to delve deeper into the supply contracts and inventories of oil companies; for starting from the assumption that the Oil Deregulation Law is for the people’s benefit; and for relying on data ‘voluntarily supplied’ by oil companies.
Sidebar:Probe on findings of Independent Oil Price Review Committee urged
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
After losing a Supreme Court battle to block the implementation of the Milk Code in 2007, multinational formula milk companies are now lobbying Congress to reverse the gains in promoting breastfeeding and restrict formula milk advertising.
Sidebar: Dispelling false notions about breastfeeding
Milk-letting activity highlight campaign against amendments to Milk Code
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
The Lumad families left their community and set up a protest camp in Bukidnon after their village leader Jimmy Liguyon was killed by Alde "Butchoy" Salusad of the New Indigenous Peoples’ Army Reform (NIPAR) and his father, Nonong Salusad, a member of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographic Unit (CAFGU). But paramilitary forces continue to attack them with impunity.
ByRONALYN V. OLEA
“Forty is not just a number to remember but a reminder of the length of time we have been fighting impunity and for the attainment of justice. “ – Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Karapatan
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Renato Reyes of Bayan said the government is heavily subsidizing the MRT and LRT because of the onerous contracts and loan guarantees it entered into with foreign banks and investors as part of a public-private partnership project.
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
"Even as we seek redress for the wrongs that she [Helen Gayta Carumba] has suffered in the hands of the Taiwanese government, we also understand the urgency of facilitating her early release and repatriation to the Philippines. Any amount that you are able to provide will be a moral contribution to Helen’s human rights, as well as those of other, similarly-situated migrant workers." – APMM
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
The costs of health services in earlier corporatized government hospitals such as the Philippine Heart Center, the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP), National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) and Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) belie the government’s claim that privatization will lead to more “accessible and affordable health care” for the poor.
Sidebar:
Laying the foundations for the privatization of government hospitals
Attacking progressive unions in government hospitals to pave the way for privatization
By MARYA SALAMAT
Steven Hildreth, a missile-defense expert with the Congressional Research Service, an advisory arm of US Congress, was quoted as saying that the U.S. is "laying the foundations" for a region-wide missile defense system that would combine U.S. ballistic missile defenses with those of regional powers, particularly Japan, South Korea and Australia.
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Altamina Exploration Resources Inc.’s six exploration permits were converted to a Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement, providing it with an assurance that it could recover its capital outlay in five years.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“If the Massacre has made anything clear, it is the difficulty of obtaining justice through a judicial system hostage to technicalities and susceptible to the crafty manipulation of lawyers” – Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility
By MARYA SALAMAT
Philex has reportedly been filling its tailings ponds to way over its capacity, doing only “mitigating measures” against likely spills, and ignoring the pond’s ending lifespan.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
People who have open wounds or lesions and waded through floods are highly at risk of being infected by Leptospirosis. The bacteria can also penetrate through the mouth, nose or the eyes.
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