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.
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.
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.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) blames the expansion of agricultural lands for the decrease of forest cover while the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) points to large-scale mining as the major cause of forest destruction in the region.
BY MA. LEONEZA B. RIGONAN
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
BAGUIO CITY ? Who is telling the truth?
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) blames the expansion of agricultural lands for the decrease of forest cover while the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) points to large-scale mining as the major cause of forest destruction in the region.
This year?s Cordillera Day is not only the commemoration of the death of Dulag and other martyrs. It is also a call to strengthen the indigenous peoples? unity against development aggression in the Cordillera region
BY ROBERT A. PAMBID
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
BAGUIO CITY ? This year?s Cordillera Day activities, to be hosted by the Tongtongan ti Umili (TTU, People?s Forum) and the Organisasyon dagiti Nakurapay nga Umili ti (ORNUS, Organization of the Poor from the Sitios of Abra) in this city, will focus on the themes of people?s rights and the ?politics of change.?