By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA
Something happened during the National Interfaith Mission for Peace and Justice visit to the massacre site in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan, Maguindanao, last January 23 that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. As an “embedded” Bulatlat correspondent in the mission from Cotabato City, I, along with my Kodao and Pinoy Weekly colleagues, had no inkling that something was wrong when we started out that day.
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By MARYA SALAMAT
The first time Rep. Luis Villafuerte went up and asked the farmers to meet with him in April, “he hoodwinked us to sign a paper which we thought was just an attendance sheet, but later turned out to be our supposed agreement to donate the lands we have been tilling to Green Earth,” members of Lingap Magsasaka, the farmers' group, told Bulatlat during the northern leg of the 10-day Lakbayan.
Click here to read past Bulatlat stories on Mendiola Massacre Mendiola Massacre: 23 Years Later Click here for Bulatlat's full coverage of the 10-day Lakbayan-National Peasant Caravan that preceded today's commemoration of the 23rd anniversary of the Mendiola...
Human Rights Watch, based in New York, just released its World Report on human rights. It blamed the Philippine government for the rise of private armies. It also blamed the "culture of impunity" in the Philippines for the Ampatuan massacre and other killings.
By SONNY AFRICA
Amid the unfounded hype about a global economic recovery, the challenge for Philippine development remains to be in the direction of defying the imperialist globalization offensive and genuinely building the domestic economy.
"Yes, I have chosen to seek refuge under the revolutionary movement, particularly with the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front. This is the most logical choice on my part because these are the very organizations that can guarantee not only my protection from political killings but also, above all, freedom of the people from the oppressive grip of a reactionary fascist state. I am still breathing and fighting precisely because of this choice."
By GRACE S. UDDIN
Small farmers like Winifreda Cabisay have not benefited much from the government's agrarian-reform program. She was awarded land in 1996 but she has not been awarded a title to it and has had problems maintaining it. With the 10-day Lakbayan, Cabisay hopes that the issues that confront farmers like her will be heard.
By CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO Streetwise / Business World Posted by Bulatlat.com The recent moves of the Arroyo government in the aftermath of the Maguindanao massacre reeks of nothing less than a whitewash. Not only is it geared to cover-up the culpability of the...
View slideshows of Lakbayan: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 7| Day 10 Lakbayan: Nationwide Peasant Caravan Related items: Negros Farmers on Hunger Strike to Oppose Killings, ‘Criminalization of Agrarian Struggle’ By RITCHE T. SALGADO Farmers and...
Slideshow: 41 Years of People's War
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