NEWS AT A GLANCE

Filipinos want a new President

Six out 10 Filipinos are looking for a new President to replace Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Based on a March 14-29 survey, IBON Foundation, an independent research think tank, revealed that 58.55 percent of the 1,211 respondents interviewed nationwide answered “yes” to a change in the presidency.

The IBON survey also showed 20.73 percent said no, 19.49 percent were undecided and 1.24 percent did not answer.

Macapagal-Arroyo also received a failing grade as President of the Philippines: 72.08, down from 72.84 last December. The passing grade is 75.
 
IBON said that the lack of substantial reforms that address increasing prices, low wages, and unemployment contributed to her failing grade. Bulatlat

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MIGRANT WATCH
Use P100-million fund to save OFWs in Iraq – Migrante Party

MIGRANTE Sectoral Party chair Connie Bragas-Regalado has called on the Macapagal-Arroyo administration to use the P100-million repatriation fund at the Department of Foreign Affairs to repatriate overseas Filipino workers in war-torn Iraq.
 
“The said fund is mandated by the Migrant Workers Act of 1995 (RA 8042) and is appropriate for the Iraq situation,” Regalado said last week. “But only after Filipino security guard Rey Torres and driver Marcelo Salazar were killed in recent days did Malacañang and the DFA strongly appealed to OFWs to seek voluntary repatriation.”

Migrante also called for the immediate withdrawal of Philippine support to the U.S. war of terror in Iraq, the close monitoring of countries bordering the war-torn nation and a complete appraisal of the deployments of Filipinos to these countries.”

“This support has (made) Filipinos…legitimate targets of the Iraqi resistance since most of them work in U.S. military camps and U.S.-owned companies…,” Bragas-Regalado said. Bulatlat

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KMP probing into land-grabbing case in Solana

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Peasant Movement of the Philippines) is now investigating a land-grabbing case in Maguiring, Solana, Cagayan Valley, north of Manila.

KMP Secretary-General Danilo Ramos said the land situation in Solana reflects what is happening in other province like Negros, Leyte and Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro.

Land-grabbers in these areas, he said, criminalized agrarian conflicts. In Negros and Leyte, farmers were charged with arson for simply burning the rice husks after harvest, Ramos said.

In Solana, farmers said that Victor Padilla uses his political influence and connections to secure the land.

Ramos urged Solana farmers to organize and fight for genuine land reform and national industrialization. He also urged them to file cases, sign petitions, conduct picket rallies, and initiate dialogues to prove to land-grabbers that they are serious in their fight for their land. Bulatlat

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