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Tortured Youth Activist Belies Military’s Claim of ‘Staged Abduction’
By RONALYN OLEA
A youth activist who was tortured for 10 days by people he believed to be soldiers has belied claims by the military that he is a rebel returnee and that his abduction had been staged. His lawyer thinks the military is experimenting with the case of Noriel Rodriguez.
Computerized Elections System Faulty, Vulnerable to Cheating
By MARYA SALAMAT
Concerns are being raised that the automated elections system (AES), which is supposed to be used in the coming elections in May, is vulnerable to cheating and that the Commission on Elections has been so inept in the preparations.
‘Sugar Crisis’ a ‘Money-Making Hoax Concocted by Traders’

By RITCHE T. SALGADO
A group of sugar workers in Negros island was shocked to learn that the price of sugar in some parts of the country has reached a high of P60 per kilo amid news of an apparent crisis on the supply of the commodity.
Why Are Candidates Silent About Debt and Deficit?
By ARNOLD PADILLA
Whoever becomes the next president will have to run a government that is almost P5 trillion deep in debt and with a budget deficit of P300 billion or more. Thus, whatever promises about providing for the basic needs of the people especially the poor are empty rhetoric unless candidates disclose how they intend to address the worsening fiscal situation.
A Bloody Struggle for Land in Compostela Valley

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
For the farmers, peasants and indigenous peoples of Southern Mindanao, the past several years had been a period of great danger and violence as big mining companies encroach into ancestral and agricultural land, using the military to drive them away. Many peasant and Lumad leaders who opposed these projects have ended up dead and tortured.
FQS: A Look Back at Those Days of Disquiet

By ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
“The First Quarter Storm of 1970 caught the attention of the people on a national and international scale. It inspired the youth and working people in the provincial capitals and cities to rise up and carry out protest actions against US imperialism and the local reactionaries and demand national liberation and democracy.”
Leyte Farmers Locked in Battle with Ex-CA Justice Over Land

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Since 2000, Alejandro Abaño could not go back to his farm in barangay Cabatianuhan, Alangalang, Leyte. In the first week of February that year, Abaño, together with some agricultural workers, was weeding the coconut land of his father when armed men pretending to be policemen came to their hut accusing them of being rebels. The armed men were allegedly hired by former Court of Appeals Justice Vicente “Cheng” Veloso, who claimed that he owned the land.
News in Pictures: High-Tech Elections?

After three SIM cards, two modems, and countless earlier attempts, a Smartmatic technician tries to get a satellite signal after failing to transmit test results. When he did get a signal, he tells person on the phone: "Pare,di ko naman pwedeng hawakan ito nang ganito hanggang mamaya." He gets help though from a cameraman who lends him a tripod. This is just one of the scenes in Friday's Comelec Smartmatic field test in Agojo Elementary School in Pateros for the machines that are to be used in the elections in May. Photo by Renayes Reyes Jr.
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