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.
Category: Labor & Trade Union
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.
Dagupan Poor Give Way to ‘Bangus’
Dagupan City authorities want to build a bangus (milkfish) processing plant with a production capacity of 60,000 milkfish a day. If the local officials have their way, 274 households will be dislocated from their homes and transferred to a place devoid of basic services. By JONG DELA CRUZ Bulatlat.com DAGUPAN CITY – Is bangus (milkfish)…
Asia Brewery Workers Defy GMA’s Strike Freeze: Lucio Tan’s beer, a matter of national interest?
The labor department has assumed jurisdiction over a strike staged by workers of Lucio Tan’s Asia Brewery in Cabuyao, Laguna. Since when has beer, the unionized workers cry, been a matter of national interest? By DENNIS ESPADA Bulatlat.com CABUYAO, Laguna – The machines of alcoholic beverage firm Asia Brewery Inc. here ground to a halt…
Grains of Truth: Food Producers Suffer Hunger, Poverty
“Kawitang palakol” and “gawat” are terms that refer to times when food is scarce, usually the weeks before harvest season when the farmers have spent all their money on fertilizers and pesticides and harvest time is still far away. The considerable increases in the prices of farm inputs and terribly low price of palay ((unmilled…
Gov’t Destroys .5 M Jobs, Record 5 M Jobless
The just released April 2004 employment figures, including nearly 5 million Filipinos without work, affirm the dismal failure of government economic policy. By Sandra Nicolas Bulatlat.com When the National Statistics Office released the latest Labor Force Survey (LFS) on June 15, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri seemed to be talking from another planet. He said,…
Bridge Program: Added Cargo for Overworked, Underpaid Teachers
Teachers trained under Makabayan subjects, who are “not well-equipped with teaching competencies in Math, Science and English,” are being assigned to the controversial Bridge Program, a teacher leader reveals. “Paano magagawa ng Bridge Program ang pagpapahusay sa mga estudyante kung ang mga magtuturo nito ay ibang aralin naman ang itinuturo” (How can the Bridge program…
400 Children of Miners Barred from School
Nearly 400 school children failed to enroll in Tuba, Benguet when the two schools in the area funded by a mining corporation refused to admit children of former employees. By ALDWIN QUITASOL Northern Dispatch Posted by Bulatlat.com BAGUIO CITY — Philex Mining Corporation (PMC) in Padcal, Tuba, Benguet in northern Philippines has barred children of…
UP Unions Oppose Privatization of Gov’t Services: Government employees face mass lay-off
Two employees unions of the University of the Philippines in a joint statement expressed their opposition to the latest plan to accelerate the privatization of government services which, they said, makes government employees the sacrificial lambs in the government’s inability to raise sufficient revenues and to curtail public spending. By LYN V. RAMO Northern Dispatch…
The Untold Story of Hacienda Luisita Workers
Holding a multi-colored bayong (plastic market bag), Mang Pering, a retired sugar farm worker, looked half-scared and half-exited. Inside his bayong was a panti (fish net made of nylon) and some dry clothes. He is on his way to the nearby river where he hopes to get some fish so his family would have something to eat for the day. But before he left, he said he only had one wish: “Sana hindi ako mahuli ng gwardya” (I hope the guard won’t catch me).
The Economics and Politics of the World Social Forum: Lessons for the Struggle against ‘Globalisation’
Table of Contents: ‘Globalisation’ I. How and Why the World Social Forum Emerged II. WSF Mumbai 2004 and the NGO Phenomenon in India By Research Unit for Political Economy Ground floor, Sidhwa Estate, N.A. Sawant Marg, Colaba Mumbai (Bombay), India 400005. http://www.rupe-india.org/index.html Posted by Bulatlat.com Introduction ‘Globalisation’ It became fashionable in the 1990s to use…