“I would like to think that the real reason I am being detained – indefinitely if the kingpins of national security have their way – is that somehow I am contributing my share to the people’s struggles to overhaul this unjust and undemocratic system. Only diehard reactionaries would condemn this as a criminal act.”
Day: January 20, 2019
No more unli rice | Assessing the impact of tariffication on food security
Farmers and advocates warn of the negative impacts of rice tariffication.
Genuine agrarian reform, rice industry development as alternatives to tariffication
“The Rice Industry Development Act (RIDA) bill seeks to lift our rice industry from a multi-dimensional crisis that wasted away its productive capability, stunted its development and forestalled the country’s attainment of food security.”
Rice price hikes seen with tariffication bill
Price increases are to be expected as the country’s staple food will be solely at the hands of the profit-oriented private sector.
Tariffication to worsen dependence on imported rice
While not a guarantee to lower prices in the long run, opening up the rice sector to unbridled imports leaves the country’s rice security at the mercy of an unpredictable and increasingly unreliable world market. This happens as 95 percent of Philippine rice imports come from just two countries whose own domestic production is either slowing down or declining. Globally, rice production has been steadily decelerating in the past four decades.
‘Rice tariffication detrimental to NFA, consumers’
“This situation may lead to chaos and further manipulation of the supply and price of the staple by unscrupulous traders.”
Environmentalists, fisherfolk denounce DENR’s ‘fake’ rehabilitation of Manila Bay
‘There is no real rehabilitation if the Manila Bay ends up with profit-driven corporations.’
A case of illegal arrest and a trumped-up charge
Almost a year after their warrantless arrest, detention and prosecution for alleged illegal possession of firearms and explosives, on Jan. 15 Rafael Baylosis and Roque Guillermo were ordered freed by a Quezon City court. Baylosis is a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the GRP-NDFP peace talks, which President…
Journalism in troubled times
Should the media report everything government officials do and say for the sake of that elusive concept called “objectivity”? Philippine practice suggests that that’s what most journalists assume — and that, no matter how erroneous, outrageous or potentially harmful the statements and actions of those sources may be, their responsibility ends with accurately quoting them.…
First Person | Kuwentong #SM
Patay na ang Contractual King pero patuloy ang legasiya ng sistemang kontraktwal sa loob ng SM. 99% ng kanilang mga manggagawa ay contractual kaya mas dapat i-expose ang kabulukan ng sistemang ito.