Fisheries groups are opposing the recent Supreme Court ruling allowing commercial fishing vessels to operate within 15 kilometers of municipal waters.
Consumers and small businesses struggle with soaring rice prices
For Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, the maximum suggested retail price is just a band-aid solution and does not address the root cause of the continued rise in rice and food prices—the lack of support for local farmers, neoliberal agricultural policies, and the importation of cheap rice that undermines local production, as well as the absence of genuine rural industrialization.
Cagayan de Oro artist harassed while performing silent protest during Iglesia Ni Cristo rally
Nicolas Aca’s performance expressed a critique on “how religion can bind devotees to their leaders’ agenda as if in chains.”
Two bits of good news lighten up the start of 2025
Surely, the increasing number of self-declared poor among our people is a cause for national concern. The government’s poverty-reduction program definitely needs serious evaluation, what with the contributory negative causes such as calamities, both natural and man-made, that come aplenty every year. This negative trend notwithstanding, two positive developments at the beginning of the new year provide us reasons to cheer up.
Balik-Tanaw | Humility, courage and hope
The Baptism of the Lord is more than a thing to remember or a period in Jesus’ life – it is a powerful reminder to reflect on how His baptism shapes our very being. It invites us to examine our purpose as the baptized. It is challenging us to step beyond comfort , and embody a solidarity that responds to the cries of a world yearning for justice, peace, and hope.
Negros-based NGO helping farmers exposes lies, inaccuracies in terror financing complaint
PDG, at its core, has spent decades advocating for agrarian reform, sustainable agriculture, and the rights of small farmers and fisherfolk in Southern Negros. Genol told Bulatlat that PDG was founded in 1987 in response to the Negros famine.
Group fumes at latest OFW death in Kuwait: ‘Abolish Kafala system’
An analysis made by the Migrant Forum in Asia showed that the Kafala system only favors the rights of the employers, highlighting the system’s failure to protect the rights and welfare of the migrant workers.
Balik-Tanaw | A reflection on Epiphany, and what it may mean for our times
When the album Folklore was released on July 2020, it was just months after Covid 19 affected the entire world. Taylor Swift isolated herself in those days, but aloneness proved to be fertile ground for a revelation. One song stood out among those included in the album. In this poetic, lyrical piece, Swift “empathizes with doctors and nurses, who served the affected despite their harrowing work, and mental trauma they have to experience while handling the loss of human lives.”
One-fifth of world’s children live amid armed conflicts
More than 473 million young people, nearly one-fifth of all children in the world, suffer from the worst level of violence since World War II (1939-1945). This, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, as lucidly reported by The Guardian.
Campus militarization intensifies, undermining academic freedom
“If this program is pushed through, the militarization of the schools could have dangerous consequences for the democratic aspects of our country. Given the current political climate, the state might use the militarization of young people for selfish purposes, which would inevitably lead to human rights violations.”
P23 wage hike an ‘insult’ to Northern Mindanao workers, labor group says
Bulatlat gathered the wage orders issued by RTWPB Northern Mindanao in the past years and found out that the most recent wage hike is the lowest increase to be implemented since 2018, specifically in the non-agriculture sector.