Based on the 2004 Inventory of Personnel by CSC, 10.81 percent of the 1.79 million government employees are working as “non-career personnel”. This is equivalent to 159,533 workers who, although doing the equivalent of regular work for the government, are not enjoying the full benefits of “real” government workers. BY NOEL SALES BARCELONA Bulatlat Mang…
Day: October 4, 2008
Union Emerges Victorious through Unity, Determination, Steadfastness of Women Workers
For ten years they labored without a union suffering from low wages, being cheated in the computation of their overtime and holiday pay, and night differentials, and being sexually harassed by the owner of the company; for more than two months they steadfastly held on with their strike. All of these bore fruit on Sept.…
27 Southern Tagalog Activists Charged with Burning of Globe Cell Site
Twenty-seven leaders and members of people’s organizations in Southern Tagalog, including a labor lawyer, were charged with arson, destruction of property and conspiracy to commit rebellion. The activists said this is but part of the ‘legal offensive’ of Malacañang, which is meant to derail the people’s movement in the region. BY RONALYN V. OLEA HUMAN…
Women and Children in Conflict Areas Tell their Stories in a Book
The book ‘Uncounted Lives’ features illustrations, including drawings of soldiers shooting at mosques and houses in the conflict that occurred in 2000, 2001 and 2003. These drawings and pictures offer a more concrete glimpse of the children’s experiences with armed conflict in their communities. BY CJ KUIZON Davao Today Posted by Bulatlat In North Cotabato,…
Gov’t Workers Urge Court to Junk Libel Raps vs Leader
Government employees belonging to the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage) asked the Pasay City Regional Trial Court on Oct. 3 to once and for all junk the libel case filed by Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) president and general manager Winston Garcia against their national president Ferdinand Gaite. BY NOEL…
US House Approves Bailout on Second Try
The House of Representatives gave final approval on Friday October 3 to the $700 billion bailout for the financial system, reversing course to authorize what may be the most expensive government intervention in history. BY DAVID M. HERSZENHORN, The New York Times/Truthout INTERNATIONAL Posted by Bulatlat Washington – The House of Representatives gave final approval…
From Empire to Democracy
BY HOWARD ZINN The Guardian UK/Truthout INTERNATIONAL Posted by Bulatlat This current financial crisis is a major way-station on the way to the collapse of the American empire. The first important sign was 9/11, with the most heavily-armed nation in the world shown to be vulnerable to a handful of hijackers. And now, another sign:…
Let the Rich Bail Them Out
“If a bailout is needed, if taxpayer money must be placed at risk, if we are going to bail out Wall Street, it should be those people who have caused the problem, those people who have benefited from President Bush’s tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, those people who have taken advantage of deregulation who…
Towards a Second Cold War?
Fevered rhetoric aside, in practice the cold war was a tacit compact in which each of the contestants was largely free to resort to violence and subversion to control its own domains: for Russia, its Eastern neighbors; for the global superpower, most of the world. Human society need not endure – and might not survive…
Making the People Carry the Burden of the Crisis Caused by Greed
During its peak years, financial investment houses and banks reap profits at the expense of the “real economy” and the people. When they experience losses, history shows that it is the people, through their taxes, who carry the burden of rescuing them with the government’s bailout plans. BY BENJIE OLIVEROS ANALYSIS Bulatlat The rejection by…
The US Financial Crisis and the Philippines’ Economic Debacle
Having produced only disastrous results, economic management can no longer be left in the hands of an elite corps of bureaucrats and technocrats who ape lock, stock and barrel models purposely to make corporate profits bigger at the expense of workers, farmers, and other marginal sectors. BY THE CENTER FOR PEOPLE EMPOWERMENT IN GOVERNANCE (CENPEG)…