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.
Category: Human Rights
Anti-Terror Bill: Legalizing A Monster
With the country’s human rights situation already in dire straits, rights advocates say the passage of an anti-terror bill is like creating a new monster that would trample on the rights of innocent Filipinos. As a human rights lawyer said, “Fighting its implementation is protecting the innocent.” BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat.com It took only a…
GRP Charged with Violating Peace Pact
The Arroyo government faces charges for violating a peace agreement signed with the NDFP in 1996. One of the violations is government’s failure to indemnify thousands of torture victims during the Marcos dictatorship. BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN Bulatlat.com Members of a group of former political prisoners have filed a complaint with the Joint Monitoring Committee…
Fields of Cane, Fields of Struggle
Sa Ngalan ng Tubo is action-packed and is never dragging. The music is at one time stirring and at another, solemn. Truly, the film portrays a history unfolding – and the strikers as the makers of history.
Battleground Gate 1: 78 days – and still on strike
Gate 1 of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac, where seven lay dead after the Nov. 16 carnage, remains as the battleground between the Cojuangcos and the striking sugar mill and farm workers. This is where hundreds of battle-scarred strikers have held their ground since Nov. 6 and even non-striking workers say unless this gate is…
Crisis Under Arroyo Rages On; People Bear the Brunt *
2004 was rough for the ordinary Filipino. While economists and politicians debated endlessly on the intensity of the country’s problems and wavered on their solutions, the masa was bearing the worst of the Philippine crisis. BY ROSARIO BELLA GUZMAN Executive Director, Ibon Foundation Posted by Bulatlat.com Introduction 2004 was rough for the ordinary Filipino. While…
Akbayan Rep’s Bill Hit: Discriminatory and Anti-Human Rights
Akbayan Rep. Loreta Ann Rosales has found herself in a hot seat for pushing a consolidated bill in the House that, according to the leading human rights alliance Selda, will end all expectations by human rights victims of justice and indemnification. BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN Bulatlat.com The Society of Ex-Detainees Against Detention and for Amnesty…
In Tacloban Street Vendors’ Cycle of Woes
Evictions and violent demolitions are nothing new to Tacloban City’s street vendors who blame the government for the lack of livelihood opportunities that push them to continue with street hawking. By Maureen Japzon Bulatlat.com Tacloban City – After a holiday reprieve, sidewalk vendors in Tacloban City (some 570 kms from Manila) are once again facing…
KAPITBISIG: A Campaign for Justice to the Victims of the Hacienda Luisita Massacre
UNITY STATEMENT We denounce the bloody dispersal of the strike at the Hacienda Luisita (HL) last November 16, 2004 by elements of the AFP, the PNP and HL security guards that left seven dead, scores wounded and more than a hundred illegally arrested from the ranks of the mill workers and farm laborers. We deplore…
Anti-Crime Crusader, RM Awardee, Church Leaders Back Luisita Workers
An anti-crime crusader, a Ramon Magsaysay awardee, Church leaders and academic personalities share one thing in common: they support the battle-scarred striking workers of the Hacienda Luisita against its owners, the Cojuangco and Aquino clans. BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat.com An anti-crime crusader, a Ramon Magsaysay awardee, Church leaders and academic personalities share one thing…
The Hazards of Toiling for the Cojuangcos
A lost foot, a lost job and a threat to lose his home. This tale of a sugar mill worker at the Central Azucarera de Tarlac brings to fore the miserable conditions that bug the work force of Luzon’s largest sugar refinery. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat.com It was 30 minutes past midnight on Feb. 7,…