“They [children] are harassed, threatened, forced as guides, displaced, maimed, raped or killed and later on branded as child soldiers as an excuse of the AFP for the violations they have done.

Joint forces of the Philippine Army and the PNP have reportedly tried to dismantle the barricade in serving the TRO against the local leaders, but they have been foiled by “the strong and organized resistance of the people.”

No one in the country can expect much difference in the next election. It should be more “exciting” as there will be more at stake, and the battle will be “winner take all”, but for the mass of people, even an economic trickle will not appear despite the likelihood of continued “growth” from which the ruling class and its political agents will continue to benefit, reaping the rewards of aggressive worker/peasant repression and unbelievable exploitation.

Read also: Part 2 and Part 3 of this report.

Aside from the Office of the Ombudsman, the complainants are also set to prod Congress to conduct an inquiry into the recent elections.

The Department of Agrarian Reform is seemingly caught between doing what the Supreme Court directed them to do and the dictates of the Cojuangco family.

This year, private water concessionaires are up for ‘rate rebasing,’ meaning they would substantially increase water rates to pass on the costs of their planned projects, some of which would not be implemented but will be charged to consumers anyway. This is aside from the usual rate increases.

Read also: Metro Manila experience: Poor water service, unjustified rate hike petition

“Aquino is so desperate in selling his illusion of economic growth that he even resorts to absurd excuses just to cover up the worsening hunger and poverty that he has brought upon us workers and the Filipino people.” – KMU

“It’s as if the oil companies just took a break (from hiking prices) in the run-up to the elections to give the Malacañang candidates a chance to prettify themselves, especially since Noynoy was personally campaigning for the administration slate.” – Piston

With the rate the Philippine government is going about the repatriation of stranded OFWs in Saudi Arabia, only a handful would be able to leave before the July 3 deadline set by the Saudi government.

“We have pointed out even before that the government should address the shortages first before they throw money into the implementation of the K to 12 curriculum. It is like wasting money while nothing is being solved.” – France Castro, Master Teacher in Mathematics and ACT Teachers’ Party second nominee.

25 years after the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program,farmers campout in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to protest the continued massive landlessness among poor Filipino farmers under what they call the “longest, most repressive land reform program in the Philippines.”

Video and editing by POM CAHILOG-VILLANUEVA

Today is the sixth year since farmer-activist Jonas Burgos was abducted by state security forces. For the first time, his wife speaks in this video made by Jonas’s younger brother, JL.

Bulatlat.com managing editor Benjie Oliveros interviews John Monterona, regional coordinator of Migrante Middle East, and Emilyn Bulaclac, wife of Elju Bulaclac, a stranded overseas Filipino worker in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The Philippines-Korea Solidarity Committee for Peace and Reunification in the Korean Peninsula (PKSCPRKP) and Kodao Productions present this travel documentary to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This video was filmed on the occasion of the centennial of the birth of DPRK’s President Kim Il Sung in April 2012.

Filipino artists gather to fight political repression and to cal for the release of artists-political prisoners and all political prisoners as part of a global campaign to defend people’s culture.

Thousands of men, women and children join the culmination of One Billion Rising campaign, a global movement to end violence against women, in Tomas Morato, Quezon City. Elsewhere in the country, similar activities are held in 24 other cities.

Poet, songwriter, singer, journalist and activist Ericson Acosta was illegally arrested in Northern Samar on February 13, 2011 while conducting research for peasant organizations. He has not been arraigned despite having spent more than two years in jail.