The Biofuels Act by itself cannot address the most urgent problem of exorbitant and soaring oil prices caused by foreign monopoly control. Worse, only landlords and bourgeois-compradors like Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri and his co-authors are the ones who will benefit most from it. BY ARNOLD PADILLA IBON Features Posted by Bulatlat Going by the…
Category: Other Stories
Zaynab Ampatuan and the Travails of the Moros
Zaynab Ampatuan, 27, hardly looks like one who has experienced being driven from home by bombs and bullets courtesy of the military. But she has – and more than twice. Her experiences with the oppression of Muslims in the Philippines led her to become an advocate for the Moro cause. BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat…
Love without Borders
Four couples find love across the Pacific Being in a foreign country does not prevent one from falling in love, even in a time of diaspora. Globalization and love have something in common since both can cut across all borders. Unlike the former, however, the latter does not have any ill-effects. BY CAESAR A. BAROÑA…
As Balikatan resumes: Bayan Challenges Candidates to Junk VFA
The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) hit the resumption of Balikatan exercises in Mindanao and called on senatorial and congressional candidates to take a stand against the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). BY EMILY VITAL Bulatlat The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) hit the resumption of Balikatan exercises in Mindanao…
P125-Wage Hike and Arroyo’s Economic Boom
If Pres. Arroyo wants to talk about “social payback from the booming economy”, the only acceptable and meaningful social payback that Filipino workers deserve today is a substantial wage increase complemented by price controls, tax reforms, and drastic increases in social services spending BY ARNOLD PADILLA Ibon Foundation Posted by Bulatlat In a televised forum…
PGH: Hospital for the Poor No More; Employees, health groups oppose hospital fee increases
The management of the country’s premier public hospital said that there is a need to increase fees to have funds for improving facilities and services. Various groups, however, argued that increasing fees will be done at the expense of the poor who are supposed to be the main beneficiaries of public health services. BY AUBREY…
With Lafayette mine reopening: Gov’t Unleashed Environmental Time Bomb, Group Says
“The mine will only aggravate poverty among the people. DENR has started to unleash an environmental time bomb with the full commercial operation of Lafayette.” – Trixie Concepcion, Defend Patrimony spokesperson and geologist BY LISA ITO Bulatlat In complete disregard of the technical findings and recommendations of the Rapu-Rapu Fact-Finding Commission (RRFFC) issued last May…
Marine General’s ‘Detention’ Provoked by Peace Pact Violations
The “detention” by Moro rebels of a military group led by Muslim convert Brig. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino last week stemmed from the repeated postponement of a proposed tripartite meeting with the government and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). The proposed tripartite meeting was to tackle issues related to the implementation of the 1996 Final…
Scavenging by Day, Prostitution by Night
Gone were the days when vendors and porters of the Port of Batangas could give a decent life to their family and send their children to college. Losing their main source of livelihood after being ejected from their homes because of the privatization of the Port, they turned to sex trade to earn a living…
12 Years of Privatization of the Port of Batangas
Until the early 1990s, residents living near the Port of Batangas had a decent income, most of them even had enough resources to send their children to college. But twelve years after the port’s expansion and privatization, the residents who were driven out of their homes and relocated in villages far away from the port…
UN Rep Says Killings Hurting Arroyo’s Credibility Abroad
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples warns that the Arroyo government’s inability to stop extra-judicial killings in the Philippines is undermining its international standing. By Bulatlat The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples last week warned that the Arroyo government’s inability to stop extra-judicial killings in the Philippines is undermining its international…