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Farm workers condemn latest attacks, call for land distribution in Hacienda Luisita

Friday, February 24, 2012

Farm workers condemn latest attacks, call for land distribution in Hacienda Luisita


“It is a testament to how the President’s family mobilizes state security forces to suppress the just and legitimate assertion of the farm workers over the lands.” – KMP
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Eight gunshots failed to break the resolve of farm workers of Hacienda Luisita in defending their right to cultivate the 300-hectare land being claimed by the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC).

On February 20, 100 security guards, ten elements of the Tarlac provincial police and 15 members of the Philippine Army escorted the fencing of agricultural lands at Balete village, the very site of the cultivation campaign of the farm workers.

More than 300 members of Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) blocked the putting up of fences. The security guards, police and military fired shots eight times..

“They thought we would be cowed by the gunfire. We had it when we were massacred on November 16, 2004. But we stayed put and continued to block the fencing. It is a triumphant defense of our rights to the land,” said Felix Nacpil Jr., Ambala chairman, referring to the massacre that claimed seven lives and wounded hundreds.

Nacpil said the RCBC, in collusion with the Cojuangco-Aquinos, wants to harass leaders and members of Ambala.

The RCBC also filed charges of grave coercion and illegal occupation of real property against 23 leaders and members of Ambala.

Farm workers started cultivating the land after the Supreme Court issued a decision in July 2011, stating, among others, that the farm workers must be given the option to choose between owning land or stocks. In a decision in November 2011, the high court unanimously ordered the distribution of more than 4,000 hectares of land to farm worker beneficiaries but also upheld that the RCBC is a “buyer in good faith.”

Farm workers of the Hacienda Luisita call on the Supreme Court to declare its decision with finality.(Photo by Ronalyn V. Olea / bulatlat.com)
According to Jobert Pahilga, lawyer of the Ambala and executive director of the Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra), the RCBC acquired the 500-hectare land on November 24, 2004 as payment for the loan of Luisita Industrial Park Corporation (Lipco). The transfer was made eight days after the massacre.

“How could it be that the whole world, except the RCBC, knows that the land is under dispute?” Pahilga said in a forum last January..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/02/22/farm-workers-condemn-latest-attacks-call-for-land-distribution-in-hacienda-luisita/

Squealing justice? EDITORIAL e 02/25/2012

Squealing justice?

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
02/25/2012
Senators Sonny Trillanes and Panfilo Lacson, Noynoy’s staunch allies in the Senate, as well as the prosecutors, know that the prosecution has no solid evidence with which to establish their charge of partiality against the Chief Justice (CJ).

Despite having had their ally, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima testify lengthily on the alleged partiality of CJ, relying solely on the dissenting opinion of one Supreme Court junior justice Lourdes Sereno, that partiality charge was not backed up by evidence, as her testimony was clearly hearsay. De Lima, even as she quoted Sereno on what supposedly went on in the closed door en banc session of the justices, was not present in that same en banc reserved only for justices and therefore she had no personal knowledge on what she was testifying on that alleged partiality of CJ Renato Corona.

Trillanes now wants Sereno to be “interrogated” through a questionaire from the senator-judges..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120225com1.html

Mainscream: US media Iran hysteria (w/ Video)



Mainscream: US media Iran hysteria


Americans perceive Iran as Evil #1 on the planet, the latest Gallup poll shows. Since neither the US military nor intelligence believes Iran could strike America, why do the US media whip up hysteria about Iran, some 10,000 kilometers away?

­According to a new Gallup World Affairs poll released Monday, 32 per cent of those surveyed rank Iran as America’s greatest enemy – compared to just 25 per cent a year ago.

Many more – 87 per cent – gave the Islamic Republic a negative rating, making the country the worst in the survey..... MORE

SourceRT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/us-mass-media-iran-095/

Google’s prying eyes to get closer

Google’s prying eyes to get closer


The countdown is on for Google to make controversial changes to its site that have privacy campaigners up in arms. All of their users’ personal data will be gathered and stored in personal profiles for use at Google’s discretion in one week’s time.

­The changes are set to come into effect on March 1 and it seems that users will not have any choice but to comply. Internet users will be given the option to accept the new privacy policy or lose access to a large number of sights.

The alteration to their privacy policy could allow Google to share the compiled personal information with advertisers..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://rt.com/news/google-tracking-spying-obama-129/

Families of slaughtered children to sue the CIA

Families of slaughtered children to sue the CIA


President Barack Obama condoned America’s drone program last month, dismissing allegations that it's caused more harm than good. In Pakistan, the families of civilians killed in these strikes are pleading with the UN to tell America otherwise.

Reprieve, a legal action charity based out of London, UK, has delivered a complaint to the United Nations on behalf of the families of slain Pakistani civilians. More than a dozen families in Pakistan have appealed to Reprieve for assistance after their own pleas for the abandonment of drone use in their country have been ignored by the US. Now with the aid of the British-based organization, they hope that the UN will intervene and put an end to American drone attacks.

Drone strikes have taken the lives of as many as 775 civilians so far, the authors of a Bureau of Investigative Journalism warned in a report made last year. American officials insist, however, that the strikes are necessary to continue fighting the War on Terror..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/pakistan-drone-un-reprieve-043/

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