GIVE BACK HACIENDA LUISITA TO THE FILIPINO FARMERS! (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network(PESANTE)-USA stands solidly with peasant organizations in the Philippines in their call: GIVE BACK THE HACIENDA LUISITA to the farmers! Pesante supports the call of former KMP chair PAeng Mariano . Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano said that Senator Noynoy Aquino’s statement that they will give up Hacienda Luisita is just ruse to further evade his duty to give the land to the farmers. He said the Aquino-Cojuangco family could just convert the estate into other uses (such as the Luisita Mall and the Luisita Industrial Park) to raise money and pay its debts, which do not comply with their obligations under the agrarian reform program. “For generations, the Cojuangcos have benefited greatly from the Hacienda and labor of the farmers. It’s time they give it away, selling it or converting it will only aggravate the problems,” said Mariano.
Progressive FIlipinos Welcomes US Senate Spending Bill (tags)
Progressive Filipino groups from whose ranks most of the victims of extrajudicial killings have come welcomed the action of the United States Senate appropriations committee prohibiting the use of US military aid against Filipino civilians. The U.S Senate in its version of the Foreign Operations Spending Bill it approved last week, the committee instructed the US Secretary of State to monitor US military assistance to the Philippines so that they won’t be “misused by units of the security forces…against civilians, including civilians who are members of political opposition parties and human rights groups.”
PESANTE-USA DEMANDS RELEASE OF MAMBURAO 6 (tags)
PESANTE -USA, a Filipino peasant , human rights and environmental advocacy group based in the United States militantly, fully and wholeheartedly supports the call of ther Kilusan ng mga Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KM) demanding the release of all six Mindoro farmers convicted of killings brothers Paul and Michael Quinto in 1997. KMP or the Philippine Peasant Movement also accused the government of using “divide-and-rule” tactics to bail out administration ally Jose Villarosa, a former congressman.
Bayan Muna member gunned down in Northern Samar (tags)
A member of the party-list group Bayan Muna and chairperson of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) in Northern Samar was gunned down late yesterday afternoon by a motorcycle-riding assassin in front of students at the University of Eastern Philippines in Catarman. Professor Jose Maria Cui, also a former secretary general of human rights group Karapatan in the Eastern Visayas, died on the spot after being shot in the head and chest by an unidentified suspect outside the Engineering Building of the campus around 4:15 p.m.
Cabua, not Palparan to the NSA (tags)
The World Council of Churches has condemned the killings and called on the government to disband the death squads, private militias, and paramilitary forces operating in the country. The church group also asked the United Nations Human Rights Council, wherein the Philippines is a member, to take up the issue of extra-judicial killings in the country. Danilo Ramos, secretary general of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, said Palparan should be punished not commended. "His appointment (to a new government post) is like unleashing the butcher on the whole nation to carry out a bloodbath."
FARMERS, FISHERMEN, OTHERS WANT ARROYO OUT (tags)
Protesters carrying effigies of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, US President Bush, former Philippines Agriculture Secretary Luisito Lorenzo and Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes blocked Quezon Avenue in Manila, causing a traffic jam Thursday afternoon. "Hunger is spreading like wildfire. There is massive corruption in all agencies of the government and genuine land reform has not been implemented," said Danilo Ramos of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.
Iraqi Resistance Solidarity Network January 5th 2004 Updates! (tags)
1. Iraqi Resistance Report Jan. 1-4, 2004 2. Newsletter From the International League of People's Struggle, formed by Comrade Jose Maria Sison, former head of the New People's Army of the Philippines (PDF) 3.***A Call to Support the March 20th Demonstrations!!!*** 4. Join the Anti-Imperialist Camp Delegation to Iraq! 5. ANSWER stands against Colonialism in Palestine, Iraq, the world! 6.International Progress Organization: PROSECUTION OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMES IN IRAQ – LACK OF CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS FOR WAR CRIMES TRIALS 7. The True Figures of Imperialist Casualities in Iraq! 8. Examples of online zionist hatred and racism against Palestinians