Author: DAVAO TODAY

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As NAFLU Celebrates 50th Year, Workers in Philippines Honor Olalia

The National Federation of Labor Unions-Kilusang Mayo Uno (NAFLU-KMU, May First Movement) holds a tribute-dinner in honor of Felixberto Olalia, Sr. on April 16 in Quezon City, as part of activities in celebration of NAFLU-KMU?s turning 50 years old in May 2007. NAFLU-KMU?s founder Olalia Sr., a multi-awarded, highly popular labor leader in his time, a brave Huk guerrila commander and a timeless, shining example until now of what it means to champion genuine, militant and anti-imperialist unionism.

BY MARYA G. SALAMAT
Contributed to Bulatlat

Based on his own recollection, Felixberto Olalia, son of poor farmers from Pampanga, started working as an apprentice in a shoe factory at the age of 13. It?s a very young age for a boy to start working, but even before that, as a child, Olalia had actually worked for some time as a servant to a wealthy family in Tarlac, where he overheard his master saying that chili is bad for the poor because it increases their appetite and makes them eat more. That the poor have limited rights to having appetite and eating would be Olalia?s unforgettable first political lesson in life, a story he would narrate often.

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Bourgeois Journalism vs Alternative Journalism in the Philippines

There are two theories that define the state of the Philippine press today ? the bourgeois theory and the progressive theory. The bourgeois theory of the press retains its domination of the industry but with a new breed of owners and stockholders belonging to new wealthy families. The author read this paper at a conference of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) in Dumaguete City on April 14.

By Bobby Tuazon
Bulatlat

Any discussion about the theories of the press, to make them relevant to Philippine realities, should always be taken in the context of the social, economic and political conditions in a given historical period. Today, the continuing political crisis, armed conflict and even the state of rebellion are also manifested or mirrored in the state of the Philippine press.

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Three Front-Page Photos and a Plot for the Philippines?s Future

There are three pictures on the Philippine Daily Inquirer?s front page for March 17, 2007 that present an interesting insight on the state of the nation.

BY JPAUL MANZANILLA*
Contributed to Bulatlat

There are three pictures on the Philippine Daily Inquirer?s front page for March 17, 2007 that present an interesting insight on the state of the nation.

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Philippines: DENR Pays Contractor More than $1 M, Extends Faulty Air Pollution Project

Re-electionist administration solon among those in hot water

Metro Manila’s residents have an air monitoring project that is faulty, non-functional and generally useless for the past four years, but which will be inexplicably paid for and even extended.

BY LISA ITO
Bulatlat

A cabinet secretary and a re-electionist legislator are among those in hot water due to highly questionable transactions related to an air pollution monitoring project worth more than $6 million.

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Philippines: Asian Farmers, Scientists Hit Agrochemical TNCs? Control on Rice

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Landlessness experienced by millions of farmers in Asia is worsened by liberalization dictated by the WTO and the monopoly of agrochemical TNCs over rice production.

BY ABNER BOLOS
Gitnang Luzon News Service
Posted by Bulatlat

MU?OZ, NUEVA ECIJA ? Feliciano Gazpar, 50, a farmer in Barangay Bibiclat, Aliaga, Nueva Ecija, owns a one-hectare rice land but because he has no money to buy enough commercial farm inputs, he cultivates only about a quarter of his plot this year.

?Gusto ko mang tamnan ng palay ang lupa namin wala akong magagawa, wala naman akong mailalagay na pataba at gamot. Malulubog lang lalo kami sa utang.? (I cannot plant rice to all of my land even if I wanted to. I can?t afford to buy fertilizers and pesticides. We will only be more indebted), Gazpar said.

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