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“The Filipino peasantry has had enough of Aquino’s blatant disregard for the peoples demand for justice and genuine land reform.” – Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
“The Apeco law, which established the freeport zone in the province, ushered a new era of land grabbing and plunder of natural resources to the detriment of the indigenous people, farmers and small fisherfolk in Casiguran, Aurora.
The unprecedented hike was revealed as mostly due to Meralco’s contract with Thermo Mobile, which had bid 25 times higher than the usual rate, or the average recorded by WESM (P62 from P6 to 8 per kilowatt-hour). It was also disclosed that Meralco actually dictates and has full control over the pricing decisions of Thermo Mobile.
“The projects that the DAR entered into with the NGOs ... are not in any way related to energy-development. Worst, those projects were never implemented. Not a single centavo was spent for the said projects and not a single farmer received any benefit therefrom.”
“This horrendous cybersex trade of our vulnerable kids has been going on for the longest time and authorities waitrf for an international outrage to boil over before now barking commands to crush the perpetrators.” – Gabriela Women’s Party
Twenty seven years ago on January 22, 1987, 10,000-15,000 marching farmworkers of Hacienda Luisita and land reform advocates were met with bullets as they bravely wagered for land, labor, and life. This fatal encounter, now known as the Mendiola Massacre, between farmworkers and the state is a scandalous event that instantly killed 13 protesters, the same event that made a premature break with the new regime’s professed democratic restoration after the dark years of Martial Law.
A study by Kalikasan PNE revealed that the presence of US forces in the Asia Pacific region has resulted in adverse environmental impact.
”[Eduardo] Sarmiento’s conviction, despite glaring evidence to the contrary, may be a sign of government’s bad faith in fulfilling its purported commitment to address the peace situation in the country.” – National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers
The Cojuangco-owned Tarlac Development Corporation started bulldozing farmlands and evicting farmers in Balete village in November last year.
RELATED STORY | Luisita farmers file contempt charges vs agrarian reform department
"Last year, the government deployed two million OFWs and professionals abroad, the biggest in history. So again, how can the DOLE stomach this absurdity?"
“Under international and domestic laws such as the Polluter Pays Principle, Rio and Stockholm Declarations, the United States government is legally bound to pay for environmental damages brought about by its military forces and assets in other countries.”
See also: Foreign Secretary del Rosario should resign for inaction on Tubbataha compensation – Green groups
Arman Padino, 33, died from a gunshot wound in the head at around 2 p.m. yesterday at the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Hospital in San Fernando City, Pampanga.
"Ordinary people are being banned but big business groups are being welcomed. See. That is the real score in this off-limits zone policy of the Aquino administration." – Pamalakaya
At around 4 a.m., Jan. 12, father and son Noel and Reynold Tumali and Arman Pardino were on their way to the farm when they were shot at by suspected security guards and goons of Leonardo-Lachenal Holdings, Inc. (LHI), FL Property Management Corp. (FL PMC).
“The failure of the measles eradication program is but a reflection of the glaring disconnect between national health programs and the actual health situation.” – Kilos Bayan Para sa Kalusugan
“Contaminated water [from the damaged nuclear power plant] goes back and forth into the Pacific Ocean – goes across to the Philippines, to the west side of America.”
“They want our people out of the coastal zones because they prefer big business groups who want to invest in Public-Private Partnership projects that would virtually transform Leyte and Samar coastal areas into export-bane processing zones in Region 8."
“The damage caused by the grounding of USS Guardian on Tubbataha Natural Reef Park is bigger, far more reaching and strategically fatal to the livelihood of Filipino fishermen and to the fishing environment directly linked to the protected reef park.”
2013 is the defining year for the Aquino administration. First, the country entered the midterm of the Aquino presidency. All that has been happening in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the country is now a result of the Aquino administration’s own policies. It could no longer shift the blame on its predecessor, the much-hated Macapagal-Arroyo administration. Second, the Aquino administration faced the very issues that it raised against the previous administration: corruption, bribery, trapo politics, and political dynasties; and impunity in human rights violations and killings of journalists. Third, President Benigno Aquino III declared that it would finally settle, this year, the decades-old land issue involving the Cojuangco-Aquino clan. Fourth, its ability to respond to crisis was severely tested by the strongest typhoon to ever make landfall and a devastating earthquake, which hit the country at a time when the Filipino people has barely risen from two strong typhoons that hit the country late last year.
So how did the Aquino administration fare?
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