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Workers successfully hold rally at US Consulate on Labor Day

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Thousands of workers and their supporters overpowered phalanxes of Philippine National Police personnel to reach Roxas Boulevard in front of the United States Consulate on May 1.

Wanting to close their Labor Day activities by holding a rally in front of the consulate to denounce increased US military presence in the Philippines, the protesters used their superior number in overpowering hastily organized police lines.

Kilusang Mayo Uno, organizer of the biggest Labor Day event in the capital, said that neo-liberal policies dictated by the US on the Benigno Aquino government is to be blamed for the low wages and labor-only contracting policies they suffer.

EDITORIAL CARTOON: Government response

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By AMEL SABANGAN.

It has been a constant refrain by the Aquino government, that many of those who oppose its policies are branded as communist rebels. It does not matter if they are human rights defenders, indigenous peoples’ educators, or starved farmers. They often end up in jail, hospitals or, worst, dead in the government’s effort to assert itself against suffering citizens.

UP professor reveals harassment of farmers in Kidapawan

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University of the Philippines Professor Gerardo Lanuza reveals in a press conference the continuing harassment victims of the April 1 Kidapawan shooting suffer.

Lanuza participated in a fact-finding mission to Kidapawan a few days after the incident. He was assigned to interview four injured farmers, but was prevented by the presence of four soldiers armed with assault rifles inside a local hospital.

In this video, Lanuza enumerates the various ways in which the police and the Philippine Army make injured farmer Christopher Lumandang suffer even further.

(Featured image of Christopher Lumandang by Kilab Multimedia)

Mar’s arrival prompted violent Kidapawan dispersal–Karapatan

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Various groups held a condemnation rally in front of the Department of Agriculture main office in Quezon City to condemn the massacre of farmers in Kidapawan City morning of April 1.

According to later reports, at least three farmers were killed and 30 farmers were injured when Philippine National Police fired upon farmers barricading the highway to press the government for relief from hunger brought upon by the protracted drought that hit the region.

Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said they received reports that Liberal Party candidate Mar Roxas was set to arrive in Kidapawan prompting the PNP to disperse the barricade.

Six thousand farmers and indigenous peoples have been barricading the Cotabato-Davao Highway since Saturday.

Here is a short clip of Palabay’s speech at the rally.

(Photo by Kilab Multimedia)