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Shots shattered the evening calm as a peasant leader, Marcelino Beltran, went out of his house to greet some “visitors.” The visitors pumped bullets into his body and he died two hours later – the eighth to fall following the Nov. 16 massacre of seven farmers at Hacienda Luisita.
The violence that marred the strike of plantation and milling workers of the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita on Nov. 16 was bound to happen and government authorities may have to account for it.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
and MARYA SALAMAT
A study on abortion in the Philippines argues that the government has committed violations of human rights by criminalizing abortion regardless of circumstance. Another study, done by Gabriela, finds that abortion is increasingly becoming acceptable to Filipinos.
In the Philippines, there is today an alarming trend on incidences of abortion that, because these are forced to be done clandestinely, have also often been unsafe.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
“There could be no reconciliation without justice,” President Benigno Aquino III declared during his inaugural speech. But the means by which he intends to run after the former Arroyo administration, the Truth Commission, is being criticized by progressive groups for being a dud.
Related story: Truth Commissions, a Failure in the Country, Successful in Other Countries
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Kicked out of farmers' groups and the workers’ union in Hacienda Luisita, the two key signatories in the compromise agreement supposedly representing the farmer beneficiaries have a history of betrayal against the farm workers and collaboration with the Cojuangco-Aquinos.
In this webcast, Lito Bais, president of the United Luisita Workers Union, Felix Nakpil and Federico Laza of Ambala, and Atty. Jobert Pahilga, lawyer for the farm workers, talk about the compromise agreement wangled by Hacienda Luisita management. They enumerate the alleged deception by the Cojuangco-Aquinos. 
Watch the webcast
Luisita Farmers Endure Harassment
By MARYA SALAMAT
Weeks before the management of Hacienda Luisita announced the signing of the controversial “compromise agreement” with farm workers, the villages in and around the sugar plantation owned by President Benigno S. Aquino III and his family were subjected to militarization, the kind that sowed fear among the residents, particularly those opposed to the stock distribution option. Video Sidebar: Military Tries to Intimidate Luisita Farmers
Jobert Ilarde Pahilga, the lawyer of Hacienda Luisita farmers challenging the stock distribution option (SDO) being implemented in the plantation owned by the family of President Benigno S. Aquino III, explains in this "video primer" the SDO, why the Cojuangco-Aquino family was hell-bent on it, why the lives of the farmers did not improve in spite of it, and why these farmers and peasants are opposed to it. Watch the video
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima believes that the prison is no place for a nursing mother and her baby.
By DABET CASTAÑEDA
In 2004, Bulatlat.com published a two-part investigative report on Hacienda Luisita, its troubled history, and the struggle of the farmers and workers for land and justice. The first part, For Land and Wages: Half a Century of Peasant Struggle in Hacienda Luisita, talks about the lives of the farmers and the events that led to the strike and massacre. The second part, Poorly Paid Workers Lose Jobs — and Homes, Too, exposes the toll the conflict had on the peasants.
Click here for more Bulatlat stories and multimedia content on Hacienda Luisita.
The Versolas continue to support the strike, visiting the picket line to watch documentaries on the massacre, help in the kitchen chores or just exchange views with anyone.
Members of Tanggol Magsasaka (Peasant Network for Land, Justice and Human Rights) and Freedom for Tomada (FFT) network urged Justice Secretary Leila De Lima to immediately review the cases of peasants detained in jails nationwide and order their immediate release.
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