Philippines – Duterte 2 Years on: Destructive, Divisive, and Despotic (tags)
When Rodrigo Duterte won the presidency in 2016, some even among the left toyed early on with the idea that a “maverick” president could just be what the country needed to stir things up, and jolt us from almost 30 years of elite-dominated rule.
Inequality and Liberal Democracy: A Disturbing Association (tags)
How do we bring fundamental reforms about at a time when organized minorities and disorganized, quiescent majorities appear to be the norm in both the North and the South?
The State of Reform in the Philippines (tags)
Akbayan on Aquino’s 5th State of the Nation Address
Philippine agrarian reform: Powerful law, ineffectual bureaucracy (tags)
When the original CARP program that was passed under President Corazon Aquino was in danger of unraveling, the peasant movement came together and pushed the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms, or CARPER, through Congress in 2009.
Filipino Farmers to Aquino: Make Land Reform a Development Priority (tags)
Philippines, March 2014 -- With less than four months remaining before the upcoming “death” of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)’s land distribution component on June 30 2014, 300 farmers from the Save Agrarian Reform Alliance (SARA) today trooped to Malacanang, calling for a drastic acceleration and overhaul of the implementation of the land reform effort.
PHILIPPINES: Akbayan hails farmers’ triumph in Hacienda Luisita decision (tags)
Akbayan Party today congratulates the farmer-beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita. The decision of the Supreme Court (SC) to order the total distribution of more than 6,000 hectares of Hacienda Luisita unequivocally validates the decades-long struggle of the farmers for agrarian reform. This also serves as an affirmation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program-Extension with Reforms (CARPER) and outright repudiation of the Stock Distribution Option (SDO).
PHILIPPINES: SC Reversal on Hacienda Luisita, A Triumph of CARPER, Agrarian Justice (tags)
We in Akbayan Party welcome the Supreme Court's reversal of its previous ruling on the Hacienda Luisita case. It is a great victory not only for the beneficiaries but also for every Filipino farmer. Now it is crystal clear, land distribution is the sole, genuine avenue of agrarian reform. Likewise, this decision affirms the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program- Extension with Reforms (CARPER) - farmers must own the lands they till and it is the onus of government to guarantee it.
PHILIPPINES: The Rough and Rugged Road toward Change (tags)
Akbayan Party?s Statement on the First Year of the Aquino Government
Akbayan to PNoy: leave lasting legacy, finish agrarian reform (tags)
Three days before the commemoration of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform law (CARL), advocates who campaigned for the extension and improvement of the law banded together to call on President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to finish the just distribution of all agricultural lands.
Filipino Workers criticize shortcomings of EDSA 1 (tags)
The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and the anti-contractualization coalition KONTRA slammed the shortcomings of EDSA 1 in a symbolic mass action this afternoon. Scores of workers from PM and KONTRA assembled at the Ninoy Aquino monument at the corner of Timog and Quezon Avenues at around 5:30 pm.
Labor Day statements from the Philippines (tags)
LABOR URGED TO USE LABOR VOTE TO ADVANCE LABOR AGENDA . May 1 protest demands a stop to layoffs and contractualization.
Cory Aquino and GMA; Similar scorecards (tags)
(The EPCC NEWS decided to reprint the editorial of the Inquirer in Manila to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the EDSA People's Uprising) On the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution, it might be useful to review the records of the two beneficiaries of Edsa 1 and Edsa 2: the late President Corazon C. Aquino and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. We will then see if the nation has attained some progress in the past 24 years.
Privilege speech of Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano (tags)
Anginyo pong natutunghayan ngayon ay ang actual footage, bidyo-dokumentaryo, ng isa sa mga pinakamadilim na bahagi ng kasaysayan ng pakikibaka ng uring magsasaka, ang Masaker sa Mendiola na naganap noong Enero 22, 1987. 23 taon na ang nakakaraan nagmartsa ang libu-libong magbubukid sa pangungana ng Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas upang igiit sa noo’y rehimen ng yumaong Pangulong Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino, na naluklok sa kapangyarihan sa pamamagitan ng aklasang bayan, ang pagpapatupad ng tunay na reporma sa lupa. Tunay na reporma sa lupa na ang sentral na layunin at laman ay ang libreng pamamahagi ng lupa sa mga nagbubungkal. Isang makatwiran, makabuluhan at makatarungang kahilingan ng mga magsasaka sa rehimeng Aquino. Ang kahilingang ito ay sinagot ng rehimen ng magkakasunod na lagitik ng gatilyo’t nagbabagang punglong ibinaon hindi lamang sa katawan ng mga magbubukid kundi maging sa kamalayan at kasaysayan ng kanilang pakikibaka. G. Speaker, mga kapwa kinatawan, labintatlong (13) magsasaka, sina
PESANTE BACKS HLI FARMERS AGAINST DISPLACEMENT (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (PESANTE)-USA support Hacienda Luisita farmers in their dispute as Cojuangco family's deadline for them to cultivate the lands,. Pesante is solidly behind the United Luisita Workers' Union (Ulwu) and Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) who are beefing up its forces as they anticipate displacement measures of the Hacienda Luisita, Inc.
Landlordism in the Philippines :Hacienda Luisita as large as Makati and Pasig Cities combi (tags)
Pesante NEws reported today through a special report to the Inquirer Daily in the Philippines on a research that Hacienda Luisita is a 6,000-hectare property in Tarlac straddling Tarlac City and the towns of Concepcion and La Paz. It is as large as the cities of Makati (2,986 hectares) and Pasig (3,100 hectares) combined. Hacienda Luisita was originally part of the landholdings of the Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas, or Tabacalera. The estate was named after Luisa, wife of Don Antonio Lopez, who headed Tabacalera when it acquired the estate in 1882. It is now owned by the Aquino Family. Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino is running for president this coming elections.
ARROYO's SON LED LOBBY AGAINST LAND REFORM (tags)
The eldest child of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Rep. Mikey Arroyo of Pampanga province, was the leader of the landlord lobby in the House of Representatives that resulted in the demise of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), a militant party-list congressman claimed Friday. Rep. Satur Ocampo of the Bayan Muna party-list group said, “In the first all-party caucus in the middle of the year, [Speaker Prospero Nograles] called for an initial straw vote by asking the representatives to stand up. Mikey Arroyo led those who voted against CARP extension.”
PESANTE CONDEMNS JR 19 OF PHILIPPINE CONGRESS (tags)
“Cats with gloves cannot catch mice” The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA vehemently condemns the anti-peasant Joint Resolution No. 19. Passed by the Philippine Congress before it went to its Christmas season recess. Pesante-USA stands with and wholeheartedly support the walk-out of progressive party list members and their principled opposition to the landlord schemes. ( Below is the full text of the progressive party list statement) After more than twenty years of sham land reform we contemptuously called “BIGAY-BAWI”, the ruling clique of the US-Arroyo regime who are prime despotic landlords in their respective areas, consolidated their hold like the landlords of El Salvador and Colombia and really are counter-revolutionaries at heart.
REBOLUSYONG AGRARYO , SAGOT SA ANTI- MAGSASAKANG CARP/ HUWAD NA REPORMA SA LUPA (tags)
ng plano ng rehimeng US-Arroyo na palawigin pa nang limang taon ang Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) ay taliwas sa pagsusulong ng interes ng masang magsasakang matagal nang naghahangad ng tunay na reporma sa lupa. Walang ibang layunin dito ang rehimeng US-Arroyo kundi ang patuloy na linlangin at apihin ang masang magsasaka at ibulsa ang malaking pondo nito. Tulad ng lahat ng nagdaang programa sa reporma sa lupa ng reaksyunaryong estado, ang CARP ay huwad at walang tunay na kaugnayan sa repormang agraryo. Nagsilbi lamang ito para lalong pagtibayin ang monopolyong kontrol ng mga lupain sa bansa, at ibukas ang mga ito sa mga dayuhan alinsunod sa imperyalistang patakarang "globalisasyon."
AGRARIAN REFORM 29 bishops urge Congress to extend CARP (tags)
Twenty-nine Catholic prelates, including Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, have asked the House of Representatives to immediately extend through legislation the 20-year-old Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). The CARP expires on June 10 this year.
IBASURA ANG CARP! ISULONG ANG PAKIKIBAKANG AGRARYO! (tags)
Nanawagan ngayon ang rebolusyonaryong kilusan sa Pilipinas na patuloy na isulong ang rebolusyong agraryo at lalo pang magsumigasig na ibasura ang pekeng land reform ng gobyernong-Arroyo. Sa loob ng halos dalawang dekada nang pagsasakatuparan ng Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), malinaw sa masang magsasaka na isa lamang itong huwad na programa sa reporma sa lupa. Malaking panloloko ang deklaradong layunin at mga sinasabing tagumpay nito. Nananatili hanggang ngayon ang malawakang problema ng kawalan ng lupa ng nakararaming magsasaka.
Philippine farmers demand reform and extension of agrarian reform program. (tags)
Philippine farmers demand reform and extension of agrarian reform program. Asian farmers join rally in solidarity with their struggle
Pesante-USA Condemns Mass Arrest of Peasants in Quezon. Support ANAKPAWIS Solon call (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network-USA vehemently condemns the mass arrests of peasant leaders in Quezon and support he just call of ANAKPAWIS representative Rafael Marinao’s call that asked the House of Representatives’ committees on agrarian reform and human rights to investigate the arrest of 48 activists and the violent dispersal here on Saturday of protesting tenants.
Philippines: Agrarian violence claims more lives under Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Regime (tags)
Agrarian violence claimed two more lives this month. A leader of Task Force Mapalad (TFM), Rico Adeva, 39, was gunned down by three men as he and his wife Nenita were walking to their home in Barangay Dos Hermanas, Silay City, Negros Occidental on Black Saturday. He suffered seven bullet wounds – in the head, stomach, chest, and hand. Meanwhile, in Davao, the Secretary General of the National Coordination of Autonomous Local Rural People’s Organizations (UNORKA), Eric Cabanit, was assassinated by two masked men while he was in a public market in Panabo last April 24, 2006. His daughter, who was with him when the shooting happened, was also wounded and is still in critical condition.