While a 31% increase in Metro Manila’s minimum wage may seem bold by today’s standards, it’s far from unprecedented. The study cites the last legislated wage hike in 1989, which was even higher at 40 percent, and notes that the economy absorbed it without causing a crisis. This emphasizes the study’s broader point: a fair wage hike helps restore workers’ rightful share in national growth.
Davao is not the only city in southern Philippines that has earned notoriety for the summary execution of suspected criminals many of them minors. Fast catching up is Cagayan de Oro City which recently paraded for public view a group of crime suspects – three of...
When gunfire raged and blood soaked Mendiola bridge on the afternoon of Jan. 22, 1987, killing at least 13 peasant protesters, Marianito “Itoy” Dimapilis thought he would never get out of that scene alive. By DENNIS ESPADA Bulatlat.com It was nearly dusk. And...
Seventeen years ago last week in Mendiola at the approach of the presidential palace, Marines and police opened fire at some 30,000 peasant protesters. After the smoke cleared, 13 of the marchers lay dead. Today, organizers of that tragic rally want the massacre...
Just like the government-sequestered media establishments, the government-owned People’s Television Network or PTV4 is seen as grossly mismanaged, its officials appointed in payment of political debts. Last Jan. 19, restive PTV4 employees demanded the resignation...
Nineteen families fleeing their homes, a farmer missing, a number of residents picked up and reportedly tortured and human rights activists investigating the reports of violations robbed and harassed. These disturbing pictures came from Occidental Mindoro, showing...
One month after it capsized in Apo Menor Reef off Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro, the diving ship M/V Island Explorer has not been pulled off the mishap site and threatens to explode. Village fisherfolk are readying criminal charges against the shipowner while...
The Negros vote is one of the most coveted votes for candidates aspiring for president and other national posts. To do that however one must first kiss the hand of the country’s acknowledged powerbroker, Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. whom many say considers Negros Island...
Sixty years since Wenceslao Vinzons’ Young Philippines was founded, a new sectoral party has risen to represent the country’s youth in Congress. Anak ng Bayan, the only youth sectoral party accredited by the Comelec, vows to push its electoral agenda on education,...
For the militant cause-oriented movement, 2004 is not just an election year; it is also a year of “firsts” related to its entry into the electoral struggle. It will be fielding up to 20 nominees from Bayan Muna and five other new Party-list groups for House seats....
Scores of presidentiables and senatoriables attended recently the convention of the new sectoral party for the basic masses, Anakpawis, vowing to support their legislative cause. Their appearance only confirmed that Anakpawis, which boasts of 250,000 organized...
This early, the 2004 national elections have given rise to unconventional and non-traditional political figures through the party-list system. Progressive groups are in fact supporting six party list groups: Bayan Muna (People First) which topped the 2001...
“Politics of change.” This was the platform that the militant group Bayan Muna carried in its successful campaign for seats in the House of Representatives. Three years after and with only a few weeks of sessions left, only two of the bills it actively supported...
Since 9/11, the United States has set in motion a new basing strategy involving the most extensive realignment of U.S. military forces that will establish American military supremacy in all corners of the world. The strategy includes using the Philippines as a base...
“I have committed myself to fight for genuine change in our society. "
Contrary to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's charge that only militant groups are against the U.S. war, women and children are also expressing their opposition to war by lighting candles for peace. They solemnly pray for, among others, the enlightenment of the...