The Philippines’ New Strongman (tags)
Rodrigo Duterte’s authoritarian neoliberalism isn’t the answer to poverty and political abuse in the Philippines.
A Tribute to Filipino Labor Leader Romy Castillo (tags)
Who was labor leader Romy Castillo to this young activist?
The need for United Front in the Filipino People’s Democratic Revolution (tags)
The Filipino people’s democratic revolution constantly needs the revolutionary united front because this is the effective way to arouse, organize and mobilize the broad masses of the Filipino people in their millions in order to advance and win total victory. The need for the united front is more urgent than ever as the socio-economic and political crisis is rapidly worsening and inflicting intolerable suffering on the Filipino people and they must intensify their struggle against those who exploit and oppress them.
Philippine Airlines workers protest, appeals to Philippine President to stop layoff (tags)
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) today returned to Mendiola for a rally to appeal to President Benigno Aquino III to stop the mass layoff of 2,600 employees at Philippine Airlines (PAL). PALEA submitted a formal petition to the Office of the President appealing for presidential intervention to suspend the implementation of the Baldoz decision pending its review.
G20: A Threat to Peoples’ Economic and Political Rights! (tags)
The G20 and its global economic agenda are an affront and a threat to people’s rights and welfare. The detention and deportation of Filipino activists from Seoul and the harassment and intimidation of a number of other activists at the hands of Korean immigration authorities are manifestations of the undemocratic and anti-people nature of the G20 and further exposed the illegitimacy of this group of self-proclaimed caretakers of the global economy.
The day after “Ka Bel” died, my father sent me an email urging me to go to the wake for the party-list representative. He said Crispin Beltran was once his boss and one whom he deeply respected, and he felt it was his filial obligation to offer flowers and prayers at his wake. But since he was away in Maastricht, the Netherlands, on a scholarship, he asked me to go his place. I’m no leftist; I’m not even politically inclined, as some of my schoolmates have probably noted. So when I put on my denim pants and rubber shoes to go to Manila’s Quiapo district to buy some flowers, I thought that I was merely doing what my father had asked me to do: to offer flowers and prayers for a dead man.
PESANTE CONDEMNS SOUTHERN TAGALOG ACTIVIST CRACKDOWN (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA condemns in the strongest terms what the Southern Tagalog peasant activist crackdown and witch hunt under the US-Arroyo fascist regime. This is how Pesante-USA, a human rights, Filipino peasant advocacy and environmental organization in Los Angeles and Southern Tagalog activists described what would come next after farmer leader Rogelio Galit was arrested Monday evening at Barangay Kaong, Silang, Cavite on murder charges filed at the regional trial court in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro. Pesante-USA learned through media sources that around 15 armed men in civilian clothes arrested Galit, an officer of the Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan and spokesperson of the Katipunan ng mga Magbubukid sa Kabite, said his wife Patricia who witnessed the arrest at their house.
WALANG AWAT NA KILOS PROTESTA SA PILIPINAS (tags)
Sunud-sunod na kilos-protesta ang inilunsad nitong nagdaang mga araw, laluna ng mga kabataan, laban sa tuluy-tuloy na pagtaas ng presyo ng mga produktong petrolyo at sa pagtanggi ng rehimeng Arroyo na alisin ang ipinapataw nitong buwis sa mga ito. Papalaki at papadalas na mga kilos-protesta ng mga kabataan. Umabot sa mahigit 5,000 estudyante at kabataang di nakapag-aaral ang nagmartsa patungong Mendiola nitong Hulyo 18. Sa panawagang “Kabataan at Bayan, Mag-aklas,” nag-walkout ang libu-libong estudyante mula sa kani-kanilang eskwelahan. Iginiit nila ang pagbabasura sa value added tax (VAT) sa langis, ang pagbabasura sa Oil Deregulation Law at ang pagsasabatas sa P125 across-the-board na umento sa sahod.
Rep. Crispin Beltran, The Great Hero of the Working Class (tags)
The Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (Alliance Philippines), with profound sadness, announced the passing of Ka (short for "kasama" or comrade) Crispin Beltran, 75, last May 20, 2008, in the Philippines. Ka Bel, as we fondly call him, was a representative of ANAKPAWIS (Toiling Masses) Party List, chair emeritus of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement), labor center in the Philippines, and was the first chairperson of the International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS) from 2001-2004.
Crispin Beltran, presente! (tags)
The National Committee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation extends its most heartfelt condolences to the family, comrades and friends of Crispin "Ka Bel" Beltran. We reprint here a statement from the Gabriela Network USA on the passing of this courageous leader of the Filipino labor movement and liberation struggle.
BAYAN Philippines & BAYAN USA on Labor Leader Ka Bel (tags)
The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan pays its highest tribute to our former chairman, Crispin "Ka Bel" Beltran after his untimely passing on May 20, 2008. We give our most heartfelt condolences to the family, comrades, friends and the millions of supporters who are grieving the loss of an outstanding fighter for national and social liberation and a beloved leader of the Filipino working class and people.
JFAV : A Tribute to Ka. Crispin Beltran, The Hero of the Filipino Working Class (tags)
The Justice for Filipino American veterans (JFAV), the alliance of veterans groups, student / youth, community organizations and veteran rights advocates in the United States and as a founding member of the International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS) pays tribute and homage to Crispin Beltran, 75 , who passed away last May 20, 2008 in the Philippines Ka. Bel, as we fondly call him, was a representative of BAYAN MUNA and later the ANAK-PAWIS Party list group, BAYAN Chair, Past Chair and Chair emeritus of Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) labor center and was the first chairperson of the International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS) from 2001-2004. As a chair person of the ILPS Ka Bel supported the Filipino World War II and gave due course to the resolution of the ILPS in 2001 and again in 2004 ILPS Assemblies recognizing the contribution of the veterans to the struggle against fascism in World War II and the justices of their current struggle for recognition, justice and equity.
AJLPP Supports the May 12, 2008 National Transport Strike in the Philippines (tags)
The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) declared today its support for the national transport strike in the Philippines planned for May 12, 2008. AJLPP national coordinator Mario Santos said, “The AJLPP unequivocally and wholeheartedly supports the transport group, Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (PISTON), which is affiliated with the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU – May First Movement) Labor Center.” PISTON will lead Monday’s transport strike which will start at 12:01 a.m. Monday.
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.
Iligal na pang-aaresto at panggigipit mula Marso hanggang unang linggo ng Abril (tags)
Iligal na pang-aaresto at panggigipit ang tampok sa mga paglabag sa karapatang-tao ng rehimeng Arroyo nitong nakaraang Marso 10 hanggang Abril 3.
Militarisasyon sa kanayunan ng Pilipinas lalong tumitindi-AJLPP (tags)
Patuloy ang pamamaslang ng mga berdugo ni Arroyo sa mga lider-masa at tagasuporta ng progresibong kilusan. Nitong Disyembre, isang makamasang konsehal ng bayan ang binaril sa loob ng kanyang upisina sa Masbate. Sa Quezon at Surigao, biktima ng dislokasyon ang libu-libong mamamayan kabilang ang maraming bata dahil sa militarisasyon. Sa Compostela Valley, isang lider-manggagawa ang pinagbantaang papatayin. Samantala, dalawang pinaghihinalaang kadre ng Partido ang dinukot at tinortyur sa Nueva Ecija noong huling linggo ng Nobyembre.
Huwag nang buhayin pa ang bangkay - KMU (tags)
" Huwag nang buhayin pa ang bangkay." Ito ang pagsasalarawang sinabi ng militanteng Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) sa posisyon ni Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo na buhayin ang Anti-Subversion Law bilang bahagi ng anti-insurgency campaign ng gobyerno. Inihayag kahapon ni PGMA ang pagsuporta niya sa plano ni Cong. Jose Solis na ibalik ang Anti-subversion Law na pinawalambisa noong 1992.
Pambansa-koordinadong protesta at welgang transportasyon, tagumpay! (tags)
IPINAHAYAG ng militanteng Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) ngayong umaga na tagumpay ang pambansa-koordinadong protesta at welgang transportasyon bago pa man ito sinimulan ngayong araw. Sinabi ni Elmer ‘Ka Bong’ Labog, Tagapangulo ng KMU na ang pahayag ng Department of Energy (DOE) na wala nang susunod pang pagtataas ng presyo ng langis ngayong Disyembre at anunsyo ng LPGMA o LPG Marketers Association na magrorolbak sila ng presyo ng LPG sa mga susunod na araw, sa bisperas ng pagdaraos ng welgang transportasyon ay mga malinaw na positibong mga reaksyon sa mga lehitimong panawagan at sentimyento ng mga demonstrador.
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PHILIPPINES: Kintanar widow to testify against Joma Sison (tags)
Gloria “Joy” Jopson-Kintanar has blamed Sison for the murder of her husband, Romulo Kintanar, on Jan. 23, 2003. She and another widow, Veronica Tabara, filed complaints against Sison early last year that served as grounds for the arrest of the CPP founder in the Netherlands on Tuesday.
PHILIPPINES: ON ELECTION DAY , GMA CHEATING MACHINE OPERATES (tags)
The US-Arroyo regime cheating and repressive machinery for the May 14 national elections is all systems go. To counter the evil machinations of the US-Arroyo regime, the Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) reiterates it call for the Filipino people to be vigilant and fight with all their might against legalized vote buying, wholesale cheating and brazen violence in this May 14 elections. At the rate it is acting, the US-Arroyo regime is sure to surpass the much hated Marcos regime its brazenness and fascist terrorist acts. AJLPP also expresses its deepest concern over the escalating violence and the propaganda in “rationalizing” its cheating activities “ in the elections. More than 100 armed incidents have been reported since the election season started late February 2007 in the Philippines. The AJLPP compiled the latest updates from the Philippines:
PHILIPPINES: ON ELECTION DAY , GMA CHEATING MACHINE REVS UP (tags)
The US-Arroyo regime cheating and repressive machinery for the May 14 national elections is revved up and is now on full operations.. The AJLPP reiterates it call for the Filipino people to be vigilant and fight with all their might against legalized vote buying, wholesale cheating and brazen violence in this coming May 14 elections. At the rate It Is acting, the US-Arroyo regime Is sure to surpass the much hated Marcos regime its brazenness and fascist terrorist acts. AJLPP also expresses its deepest concern over the escalating violence and the propaganda in “rationalizing” its cheating activities “ in the coming elections. More than 100 armed incidents have been reported since the election season started late February 2007 in the Philippines.
Hold (Philippine President) Arroyo Regime and Military Accountable for Extrajudicial Killi (tags)
The press statement of the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and special executions Prof. Philip Alston and the report of the Melo commission put forward important findings and conclusions that hold the Arroyo regime and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) accountable for extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations from 2001 to the present.
Alston press statement and Melo commission report (tags)
The press statement of the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and special executions Prof. Philip Alston and the report of the Melo commission put forward important findings and conclusions that hold the Arroyo regime and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) accountable for extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations from 2001 to the present.
Philippine NSA Gonzales wants House leftists labeled Reds (tags)
While other thought the Cold War was over. for National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, his crusade against communism is on a high gear! Gonzales is proposing to “label” left-leaning party-list candidates as communists to caution voters, particularly soldiers and policemen, against voting what he calls democracy’s enemies into the halls of Congress. Anakpawis party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran, who has been in jail for the last ten months, yesterday scored Gonzales for warning that leftist provocateurs were out to sabotage today’s anti-Charter change rally at the Rizal Park.
Filipino Activists protest Charter change, killings in Mendiola (tags)
Thousands of FIlipino protesters led by the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP-The Philippine Peasant Movement) marched Friday to denounce President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's campaign to amend the constitution and what they said was a spate of political killings in the Philippines. The Philippine Peasant Support Network(Pesante-USA) expressed solidarity with this nationwide mass action in the Philippines. As a Filipino peasant advocacy group, Pesante was formed in the U.S in 1991 and is a member of the Aliiance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP).
KMU-SMR Secretary General Threatened (tags)
Kilusang Mayo Uno¡VSouthern Mindanao Region secretary general Omar Bantayan received threats to his life as he was about to leave his residence at around 10:00 this morning. Bantayan was on his way to a meeting when three unidentified men were seen surveilling his residence in Brgy. Ubalde, R.Castillo. Bantayan was with a companion who went out first and was the one to notice two men standing some feet away on either side the gate. The third man was posted at the corner of the street about 20 meters away. The companion also spotted a bulge around the waist of one of the men. He surmised it could only be a firearm as the latter moved his hand toward it when Bantayan came out of their gate.
FILIPINO TECH-VOC GRADS END UP WITH LOW PAY (tags)
Technical vocational courses supply the pool of skilled reserve labor that services multinational firms which transferred the labor-intensive part of their production processes to low-wage countries like the Philippines according to the militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).
nternational peace conference connects struggles and unites in opposition to imperialist w (tags)
Over 150 participants from ten countries around the world shared and connected their struggles in the second day of a unique and historic international progressive peace conference. Participants of the “Towards a Just and Lasting Peace” conference heard first-hand yesterday the impacts of imperialist war, plunder and exploitation on peoples of the South and North. They also united in the need to support all forms of struggles for national and social liberation against imperialism in order to achieve a genuine, just and lasting peace.
Detained Philippine lawmaker files resolution vs. repressive US immigration bills (tags)
Activist Philippine lawmaker Rep. Crispin Beltran recently filed House Resolution 1263 urging the Philippine government to support the call of millions of Filipinos and migrants of other nationalities in the US and actively oppose the passage of the racist and repressive Sensenbrenner-King bill and other similar proposals.
US-Arroyo regime, Filipino Social Democrats and the AFP death squads, (tags)
If Marx called Christian Socialism the holy water in which the reactionaries dip their fingers in to become holy, we in the First Quarter Storm Network (FQSN) call the Social Democrats led by Fr. Romeo Intengan and Norberto Gonzales as the vinegar that these reactionary brutes dip the wounds of the victims of their deadly terrorist killing campaigns. The latest pronouncement of Norberto Gonzales that the NPA hit squads are in Manila and are out to assassinate Gloria and some members of her cabinet (including him of course) is a dirty psy-war to set the stage for their death squads to kill leading progressive leaders like the Batasan 5 and other progressive leaders in Metro Manila. No doubt it is a cheap attempt to divert attention from the widespread public outcry nationally as well as internationally against the Arroyo regime’s bloody campaign which has already claimed the lives of hundreds of progressive mass activists.
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