By MARYA SALAMAT
It is a different kind of Halloween for the residents of coastal towns of Pangasinan. For them the scare is real and takes the form of black sand mining.
Pangasinan residents urge suspension of governor
Category: Top Stories
Gov’t health workers, patients hold coordinated protest action vs. privatization
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Where will the poor go once government hospitals are privatized through outright sale, corporatization, or public-private partnerships?
Kin of guard nabbed by the military file habeas corpus petition
By RONALYN V. OLEA
The relatives of Rolly Panesa, the security guard who was mistakenly arrested by the military, said in their petition that Panesa’s personal circumstances “belie the claims of those who arrested him that he is ‘Benjamin Mendoza’ and this can be verified through proper inquiry and investigation.”
Rights worker in Visayas harassed by suspected military agents
By RITCHE T. SALGADO
President Benigno Aquino III’s excuse that cases of human rights violations being brought before it are mere “leftist propaganda’ is not only lame, it is dangerous as threats against human rights defenders intensify.
Anti-mining, anti-illegal logging activist survives ambush
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Dr. Isidro Olan, executive director of Lovers of Nature Foundation, alighted from his vehicle because logs were blocking the road; when he did, the would-be-assassins fired at him hitting him on the right shoulder.
Politicians, military blamed for Tampakan massacre
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
The military claims that the massacre of Juvy Capion and her two children Jordan, 13, and Janjan, 8, was a ‘legitimate encounter.’ Now, they have taken one of the survivors, four-year-old Becky.
Child rights violations under Aquino government increasing
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
The month of October was declared as National Children’s Month, but still the rights of majority of Filipino children are being trampled upon due to poverty, lack of access to basic social services, and child labor, and the alarming increase in cases of rape, sexual assault, harassment, being made as human shields in military operations or paraded as ‘child soldiers,’ and killings.
Sidebar: Child rights groups slam military for attacks on children
Gabriela says no to legalization of prostitution
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
“Prostitution is a highly organized exploitative system. Legalization would only give pimps, owners of prostitution dens and their customers the leverage to further exploit women as well as children and minors. – Rep. Luz Ilagan, Gabriela Women’s Party
More groups urge Comelec to disqualify Akbayan
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
“Akbayan is already a party in power. It has significant influence in government and has undue advantage over others, given the position of their high officials.” — Bagong Alyansang Makabayan
Edita Burgos decries Aquino’s ‘insensitivity’ to victims of rights abuses
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“To seek justice and to right a wrong done to families who have been victims of enforced disappearances, will that be considered a leftist act?”
Anti-mining activist slapped with libel case for Facebook post faces death threats
By INA ALLECO R.SILVERIO
A few days after anti-mining activist Esperlita Garcia posted bail for a libel case filed against her on the basis of her Facebook post, her daughter reported that two men and a woman came to their house looking for her.