Per capita budget for education is P5,200 vs Japan’s P210,481, Thailand’s P46,314 The government has adopted a “business-as-usual” attitude in explaining preparations for the school opening. For progressive students and teachers, however, they will take the government to task for its abandonment of education as they provide an alternative analysis of the country’s educational system.…
Category: Labor & Employment
Women, Children Back Miners’ Strike in Mankayan
How does one know that the workers’ demands are just and fair? One indication is the groundswell of support they get not only from other marginalized sectors, but also their spouses and children. BY ABIGAIL BENGWAYAN Northern Dispatch Bulatlat.com MANKAYAN, Benguet — Wilma is 11 years old and the fourth of six children. last week,…
WTO at 10: A Decade of Burden for Poor Countries
A decade of unhampered entry of goods and investments to Third World markets has reaped profits for the transnational corporations of rich countries. Through all these, poor countries were left to bite the dust. By John Paul Andaquig IBON Features / June 2, 2005 Bulatlat.com The World Trade Organization (WTO), the largest and most influential…
Stock Distribution Option: Land Reform without Land
That the plight of farm workers at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac has already faded from the mainstream media limelight does not mean that there is now peace in the area. Last April 22, some 1,500 farm workers agreed to withdraw their shares in Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI), demand that stock distribution option (SDO) be revoked and opt for land distribution instead.
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.)
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.
Presidential Idolatry and the Constitution
“I charge the President with culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust on three counts for which she is answerable under Section 2, Article XI.” By Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Posted by Bulatlat Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Mr. President, for your kind invitation – which Zyke Garcia conveyed to me – to…
Apocalypse Now! How Mankind is Sleepwalking to the End of the Earth
Floods, storms and droughts. Melting Arctic ice, shrinking glaciers, oceans turning to acid. The world’s top scientists warned last week that dangerous climate change is taking place today, not the day after tomorrow. By Geoffrey Lean Independent / UK Posted by Bulatlat Future historians, looking back from a much hotter and less hospitable world, are…
‘No Union, No Strike Policy’ is Tearing Cavite Workers Apart
The revival of the “no union, no strike” (NUNS) policy in Cavite appears to be making labor organizing more tortuous. BY DENNIS ESPADA Bulatlat DASMARINAS, Cavite – The revival of the “no union, no strike” (NUNS) policy in Cavite appears to be making labor organizing more tortuous. Cavite’s re-elected Gov. Erineo “Ayong” Maliksi is using…
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.