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Showing posts from 2017

NUPL Visayas condemns attacks on human rights defenders in Negros

Duterte’s call for an all out war against the Left once again shed s  the blood of the innocent. At about 2:30 pm,  November 28, 2017 , . Emelisa Badayos of Karapatan Central Visayas, Elioterio Moises of the Mantapi Ebwan Farmers Association and a 23 year old Kabataan Partylist Member were gunned down in San Ramon, Bayawan, Negros Oriental. Badayos and Moises were killed while the other individual was rushed to the hospital. The victims were members of cause oriented and human rights organizations embarking on a fact - finding mission to verify reports of  rampant human rights abuses in Negros due to intensified military operations in the island, including the assassination of almost a dozen individuals in Negros Oriental, particularly in Guihulngan City since July 2017.  The human rights abuses that they sought to investigate were believed to be carried out by military and police personnel ostensibly in retaliation to  an ambush allegedly perpetrated by the NPA.  This

Molo Conversion Jeeps

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If the opiate user from the south pushed through with his marketing mission for giant foreign and local conglomerates producing, importing and monopolizing public transport, small Ilonggo machinists fabricating the jeepney, will also be jobless, not just the 250,000 drivers nationwide. You cannot see, or rarely see, jeepneys of the design in photos here, but only in Ilonggo country. The design came after Ford Fiera and Toyota Tamaraw hit the market in early '70s. The roadside shops of Molo, Iloilo City were the first to fabricate them, thus, the term "Molo Conversion." These small body-making shops thrive and contribute to the vibrant economy because the jeepneys they produce transport goods and people. Machinists don't enjoy govt incentives yet they survive. The marketing gimmick of big business called "PUJ modernization" with no less than the Duterte Criminal Gang as its marketers-in-chief, is an assault against the people's right to l
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Tigbauan, Iloilo (August 28, 2017) -- This town, 20 kilometers south of Iloilo City honors its Communist son, Jose Aquilino Tronco Tangente with local and national heroes today, celebrated nationwide as “National Heroe’s Day.” Town employees led by Mayor Suzette Alquisada, young people, teachers and kins of Tangente laid flowers to the foot of the monument of national hero Jose Rizal followed by the unveiling of the marker four meters away which sums up the life and struggle of Tangente, born on October 9, 1949. Two representatives from the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation, Maria Cristina Rodriguez and Susan D. Macabuag who is in charge of the Bantayog Museum, attended the ceremonies. The foundation. a private entity, maintains a park in Quezon City called Bantayog ng mga Bayani which has memorial walls where the names are etched of some 300 persons who died fighting the Marcos dictatorship whether in the legal opposition or the armed  resistance. Tangente

Budol-budol, salisi con gangs prey on home owners

Iloilo City (January 31, 2017) Homeowners of Parc Regency, a subdivision in Pavia, Iloilo are victims of the combined "budol-budol" and "salisi" gangs, actually company officials disguised as officers of a bogus homeowners’ association. Buyers started residing there in 2011 and more are still coming to occupy over 3,000 plus units. They are all up in arms because to date, the subdivision has no connection to the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD), telephone land lines and cable TV. The basic amenities of modern urban life is yet to reach this subdivision. MIWD cannot set up its pipes inside Parc Regency. The subdivision sells homeowners coliform-contaminated water, at P35 per cubic meter, about twice the rate charged by government-owned MIWD for residential units. Homeowners have to buy drinking water outside. What riled more the residents though is that a cabal of Parc Regency officials usurped the functions of the home owners association that charged th

Iloilo town honors Communist son on National Heroes’ Day

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Jose Aquilino Tronco Tangente wearing his pre-sacerdotal vestment EG Tangente holding copy of the resolution; flanked by Mayor Alquisada and Vice Mayor Teruel PNP officers PNP officer The newly unveiled marker to Tangente EG Easter Grace Tangente, elder daughter of Tangente Iloilo City (August 28, 2017) -- Tigbauan town, 20 kilometers south of this city, celebrates today the National Heroes Day by laid boquettes to the monument of Jose Rizal and unveiling the marker for its own son, Jose Aquilino Tronco Tangente, communist guerilla killed in combat 30 years ago.   Bantayog nga mga Bayani Foundation's Maria Cristina Rodriguez  Tan with Boy gente's younger Sibling Orvillo Mayor Suzette Alquisada, was almost in tears, as she expressed gratitude that Tangente, her uncle, is finally recognized and thanks members of the municipal council for enacting a resolution for that. "I am grateful to the municipal council for recognizing his grea

Iloilo not keen for new hospital

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ILOILO CITY July 31, 2017 Banias (right): we are not prepared for a new district hospital Iloilo Province is no longer in position to establish a new district hospital because of budgetary restraint and more so, because the national health insurance provider PhilHealth has changed the “definition of indigents”. That’s the response of Raul Banias, MD, provincial administrator and concurrently, acting head of the Hospital Management Service (HOMS). PhilHealth shouldered a big chunk of patient expenses in the past two years under its scheme “point of care” where indigent patients are enrolled automatically upon admission. Last year, Iloilo prepaid PhilHealth over P100 M for the automatic coverage. “PhilHealth’s new definition of ‘indigent’ excluded more than half of our poor constituents,” Banias heaved. “For 2016, the Province operated on a P2.3 B budget, P900 M of that was allotted to our hospitals,” Banias said at the public hearing here convened by SP Brya

Army soldiers turns kids, civvy centers to barracks

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"Public infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and rural health units shall not be utilized for military purposes such as command posts, barracks, detachments, and supply depots;" Article X (22) (e) of RA 7610   Is it proper for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and paramilitary groups to occupy and convert schools, day care centers, clinics, social welfare offices, barangay halls and playgrounds, into barracks? That is happening right now at Cabatangan, mountainous barangay 25 km. from the poblacion of Lambunao town, Iloilo. This forested barangay of some 900 Tumandok families, perhaps, is one of the few places in the Philippines where the Army reigns supreme as a rule. thus, ditching the Constitution's precept of  “civilian authority over the military”. Photos here shows adults and children of this village engaging in workshop discussions under a parachute tent organized by various cause-oriented groups October 7,