By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL and INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
“It sends the message that it is okay to steal the people’s money for as long as you admit your crime when caught and just return a small amount from what you stole.” – Pagbabago
Category: Top Stories
Proposed Department of Housing promotes homelessness, privatization of public housing
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
“Like its predecessors, the Aquino government is abandoning its responsibility to provide social services to its poor constituents … By partnering with the private sector in building public housing, it can be expected that the government will confine its function to that of an enabler which is limited to policy formulation and program monitoring.”
Aquino’s ‘universal health care’ a sham — health workers
By MARYA SALAMAT
“The number one threat to Filipino health and job security is the US-Aquino Regime,” whose PPPs “result in privatization, in the abandonment of health as a right of the people, and in denying health workers decent wages and jobs.” – Health Alliance for Democracy.
Noynoy’s paltry P22 allowance insults and deceives, groups say
By MARYA SALAMAT
The granted P22 emergency COLA won’t give workers and their families “real immediate relief amid the rising prices of basic goods and services, especially petroleum products.”
Farmers groups file ‘fertilizer scam’ charges vs Merci
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
“The thieves who raided the nation’s coffers cannot be allowed to escape punishment. President Aquino should take a cue from actions such as this filing of criminal charges against Gutierrez and put meat into his words that he is an enemy of the corrupt.” – lawyers’ group
Labor group slams Aquino for siding with employers, rejecting legislated wage hike
By MARYA SALAMAT
In the ECOP national conference, Aquino said his government has “no intention of asking Congress to legislate an across-the-board increase in wages.”
Bulatlat.com wins big in first Red Cross journalism awards
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com dominated the online category in the first Red Cross Award for Humanitarian Reporting held on Saturday, winning the first and second prizes for stories that tackle the plight of children caught in conflict. It bested mainstream media outlets for the awards, which was established last year “to promote responsible reporting of conflict situations by highlighting the plight of those affected by it.”
What subsidy? Public utility drivers still demand for an oil price rollback
By MARYA SALAMAT
There are 214,596 registered public utility jeepneys in the country, but when the Aquino Government’s Pantawid Pasada program was finally begun first week of May, only 3,000 fuel cards loaded with P1,050 ($34.95) each had been prepared for distribution by the government.
Seeking justice for Jonas Burgos
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Mrs. Burgos told Bulatlat.com that for three consecutive nights, a van with tinted windows parked in front of their house in Quezon City for 15 minutes.
The people of Lacub’s continuing struggle for land
By JOAN GARCIA
Their history of resistance against the plunder of their resources is as rich as their mountains.
Sidebar: Cordillera elders form pact against mining, militarization
Mothers of missing UP students file charges against notorious Army general
By SHARMAINE ANNE B. VILLANUEVA and RONALYN V. OLEA
“We will not stop seeking for justice. We will not stop until the perpetrators are punished. I cannot settle with the fact that I can only embrace my daughter in my dreams,” Erlinda Cadapan, mother of Sherlyn, said.
Sidebar: Rights groups, Justice Secretary push for bill to criminalize enforced disappearance
Watch video of the press conference held after the filing here.