Philippines - Ranking Red exec named party-list third nominee (tags)
The Anakpawis party-list announced on Monday that it was adding the name of Randall Echanis, a political consultant of the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF), as its third nominee, a move which observers say could hasten the integration of the extreme left into the political mainstream.
PESANTE-USA CONDEMNS EXTRA JUDICIALS KILLINGS UNDER P-NOY REGIME (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante-USA), a human rights, environmental and a peasant advocacy group based in Los Angeles condemns the latest rounds of extra-judicial killings under the new Aquino III regime. At the the same time, Pesante -USA supports Anakpawis Party-list Representative Rafael Mariano call to President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to make a “decisive action” against the military in connection to the killing of a peasant leader in Nueva Ecija. Pesante learned that seventy-eight-year old Pascual Guevarra was shot dead by a lone gunman on Friday.Guevarra was head of the local Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association and the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid na Nagkakaisa.
Filipino farmers’ nation-wide march for Land Reform to kick off Jan. 10 (tags)
A nationwide protest march to highlight President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s alleged string of heinous crimes against farmers will kick off in Mindanao on January 10 and end in Manila on January 22, in time for the 23rd anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre, a partylist lawmaker said on Saturday. PESANTE NEWS learned today that Anakpawis partylist Representative Rafael Mariano said the nationwide farmers’ caravan was only an “opening salvo of sustained mass actions for this year leading to the end of the anti-peasant, corrupt, and fascist Arroyo administration.” Nationwide March for Land Reform “The nationwide march and caravan of farmers from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao will highlight Ms Arroyo’s string of heinous crimes against farmers, from wide-scale land-grabbing, brazen human rights violations, and unabashed plunder of agricultural funds, among others,” Mariano said in a statement.
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 Party Lists solons vow to oppose Palparan’s entry to House (tags)
Militant and Progressive party list bloc lawmakers yesterday continued to express their opposition to the upcoming entry of retired Army Gen. Jovito Palparan as representative of Bantay party-list group and Ma. Lourdes Arroyo, the younger sister of First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, as representative of party-list group Ang Kasangga. According to Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza and Anak Pawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, Palparan has no place in the House of Representatives. “The proclamation of Lulu Arroyo and Palparan as party-list representatives shows the shameless bastardizing of the party-list system by Malacañang. Since when did they represent the marginalized and underrepresented sectors?” Maza said.
Militants slam lifting of rice import quotas (tags)
- Militant groups on Tuesday attacked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s decision to lift rice import quota as a way to ease the rice shortage the country is reportedly experiencing. The farmers group Kilusang Mayo Uno said that removing the quota would benefit only the rice cartel, which KMP claims is behind the rice supply shortage and is allegedly manipulating prices. KMP chair Rafael Mariano explained that even with the quota of 300,000 metric tons of rice, the private sector only imported less than 10 percent of that volume over the past two years because of high world prices and local tariffs on imports.
Bayan Muna leader Killed in Sorsogon, Bicol Region, Philippines (tags)
Another BAYAN MUNA activist was killed yesterday morning—the third in Sorsogon province in the Bicol Region, Southern Luzon in two weeks—and the manner of his death was particularly brutal. Francisco Bantog, provincial chair of the militant party-list group Bayan Muna in Sorsogon, was shot 20 times by yet unidentified men in Barangay Dancalan in Donsol town, news sources in Bicol reported.
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.
This compares the Philipines with Colombia (tags)
Subject: Fw: [studentsnowar] Fwd: Peasant Movement Likens U.S. Intervention in Philippines to "Plan Colombia"