Negros farmers groups demand similar SDO cancellation First of two parts After Tarlac City, Negros sugarlandia is bracing for peasant rumblings as demand has been raised for the cancellation of the stock distribution scheme (SDO) in several plantations. Negros has the most number of SDOs which, farmers groups say, have made them forever landless. By…
Bulatlat Contributors
Negros: A Bastion of Landlord Resistance
Conclusion To evade land reform, Negros plantation owners together with local executives and land reform officials have devised various schemes. All these enflamed cane farm workers even more. By Karl G. Ombion and Ranie Azue BACOLOD CITY – The history of landlord resistance to agrarian reform has never been more pronounced than in Negros Island.…
Playground Behind Bars
First of four-part series Roy (not his real name), 15, had been covering up his arm the whole afternoon when visitors went to their cell. When the jail warden made the juvenile law offenders squat and line up to greet the visitors, he went to the farthest spot to avoid being seen. It turns out…
Doing Time in the Company of Hardened Criminals
Second of four parts by Mylene Buensuceso, Ronald Caraig, Likha Cuevas, and Jenielle Marie Enojo According to the latest Save the Children-UK Philippines (SCUK-Phils) study, poverty is the root of juvenile crimes. It involves committing a violation while in the process of carrying out one’s livelihood or in the act of survival. Most juveniles resort…
Children on Death Row and the Child-unfriendly Justice System
Third of four parts by Mylene Buensuceso, Ronald Caraig, Likha Cuevas, and Jenielle Marie Enojo Life was just starting for the eight minors when they were incarcerated inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinglupa City, 28 kms south of Manila. A DSWD Head Office report said they were sentenced to death. Some legal experts…
Slow Justice for Detained Children
Last of four parts by Mylene Buensuceso, Ronald Caraig, Likha Cuevas, and Jenielle Marie Enojo Alvin (not his real name) was incarcerated for 6 months for his alleged crime of shoplifting a 200-ml shampoo worth P89 ($1.59, based on an exchange rate of P55.83 per US dollar) from a big grocery store. In another municipal…
Images of Strife and Struggle: Photographs as History and Critique
When photojournalists transcend their occupation of using the lens just to observe or break the news and dare step into the workers’ front lines, their images can rouse the viewer out of detached contemplation. By Lisa C. Ito The power of photojournalism lies in its ability to capture the struggles of its milieu: the narrative…
General Out to Quell Opposition vs GMA’s NorthRail, Expressway Projects?
A peasant congressman from Central Luzon said that the heightened militarization in the region – which is taking place while Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan was designated commander of the 7th Infantry Division last September – has a hidden agenda: To neutralize the people’s dissent over two priority projects of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA…
Europe has a New ‘Terrorist’
The widow of the late Dutch finance minister and chairman of the EU Central Bank is accosted and detained by Israeli immigration authorities on suspicion of being a “terrorist.” By D. L. MONDELO Political Correspondent for Europe “If you are not with us, you are against us.” This now infamous line of U.S. President George…
Camp Bagong Diwa Likened to Auswichtz
Muslim detainees appeal for humane treatment In a privilege speech Oct. 4, Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Liza Maza called Camp Bagong Diwa Detention Center as the Philippines’ version of Auswichtz. Auswichtz was the infamous German concentration camp that housed Jews rounded up during World War II. Jews then suffered under inhumane prison conditions, were made…
Resistance
This brief incident on historic Mendiola Bridge clearly exposes the Arroyo government’s policy towards peaceful assemblies of citizens as nothing short of fascist. It has no place in a so-called democratic society and is clearly a harbinger of de facto martial rule. By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo* When we stepped into the pedestrian lane to cross over…