At least 7 people died in a violent assault Nov. 16 by the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines on the barricades of striking workers of a sugar mill owned by the family of former President Corazon Aquino.

The 4,000 sugarcane workers and milling operators of Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) went on strike on November 6 after the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations reached a deadlock. They also protested the retrenchment of 326 permanent and seasonal workers.

According to the United Luisita Workers' Union (ULWU) and Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU) the army and police first attacked their picket line with water cannons and tear gas in the afternoon of November 16. They subsequently opened fire at the unarmed strikers. At least 200 protesters were hurt, 7 of which already died, and more than 100 of them were arrested. Soldiers hunted down protesters in the area throughout the night.

In Quezon City, partylist groups Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) and Bayan Muna (People First) condemned the brutal dispersal in privilege speeches by Representatives Rafael Mariano and Satur Ocampo. Mariano likened the dispersal to the infamous Mendiola Massacre of protesting peasants near the presidential palace in 1986 under President Aquino.

Pictures of the picket: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Poetry: Hacienda Luisita

Independent news report in Filipino: Welga sa Asyenda Luisita humantong sa masaker in Pinoy Weekly

Photo by Rene Dilan of Manila Times

A photo-journalist was shot in the head in Mindanao while a radio broadcaster critical of drug syndicates in his province of Aklan also succumbed to gunshot wounds, bringing to 10 the total number of members of the Philippine media who have been killed this year alone.

In response, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) will lead a nationwide mediapersons' protest on Nov. 17 to seek justice for their slain members and to demand an end to the killings and intimidation of members of Philippine media which, the group laments, continues to this day.

Gene Boyd Lumawag (in photo), 26 years old, was shot dead by still unidentified assailants in downtown Jolo Nov. 12 after taking photos of the sunset at the pier. He had come to Jolo along with fellow journalist Carolyn Arguillas of the MindaNews news agency to pursue a story on graft in local governments.

Herson "Bombo Boy" Hinolan, 38, was shot by a lone gunman a day after Lumawag's killing. He died yesterday while undergoing medication at a local hospital.

Lumawag and Hinolan the 57th and 58th casualties in the unending spate of murders of journalists since the so-called restoration of democracy in 1986 with the overthrow of the Marcos dictatorship.

The Antonio Zumel Center likened the situation to the post-1986 media atmosphere with the martial law years, "when journalists like the late Antonio Zumel were relentlessly pursued by the state, and many of them landed behind bars and not a few were killed or abducted, for exposing the fascist regime's atrocities against the people. Journalists were among the first to be arrested following the Sept. 21, 1972 declaration of martial law."

In a brief statement, Indymedia QC (Pilipinas) expressed full support to the NUJP and the AZC, vowing to expose on the worldwide alternative media network the ongoing murderous spree against Filipino journalists. "We will fight back by exposing to the whole world these cold-blooded murders and the refusal of the Philippine government to protect Filipino journalists."

(In photo: Gene Boyd Lumawag)

Protesters in Hong Kong, including representatives of the Filipino migrant community, denounced the inhuman treatment and killing of 85 people many of whom were Muslims, in Narathiwat Province, Southern Thailand on October 25. The victims had assembled in front of a police station to protest a previous arrest of six village volunteers suspected of supporting armed Islamic militants.

According to the protesters' statement: "Adding to this criminal act of the government and the military is the arrest of 1,300 other people. Recently, it was reported that most of the detained protesters were released. However, 189 people remain in jail and are uncertain of release."

The statement also calls for Prime Minister Thaksin to step down immediately and take full responsibility for the Narathiwat massacre.

The Kalikasan-People's Network for the Environment calls for the scrapping of what it describes as the Macapagal-Arroyo government's policy of plunder in favor of mining transnationals.

The call has been broadcast in support of a campaign by the Subanon tribe and other concerned residents of Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte against large-scale mining operations of the Canadian firm Toronto Ventures, Inc., which has been among other things desecrating the Subanons' sacred ground, driving them from their homes, and damaging the main water source of the entire community.

TVI is typical of Canadian mining firms engaged in destructive business in Asia. Meanwhile, large-scale mining is also the culprit behind the gradual destruction of Homonhon island, a historical site and important tourist destination in Samar.

In Marinduque, mine tailings dumped into Calancan Bay from 1975 to 1991 have caused another death.

The fascist and rabidly pro-US Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has again been exposed to being a cesspool of corruption, with the AFP comptroller facing court-martial proceedings over ill-gotten wealth and questionable transactions involving taxpayer money.

A tense AFP has declared a “red alert” nationwide in the face of mounting reports that many soldiers and the public have become restive over bureaucratic corruption by the AFP top brass and following a call for action by the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Gen. Carlos F. Garcia, the suspended AFP comptroller, has been accused of amassing wealth grossly disproportionate to his income as a military officer. (Not even one general who authorized fascist attacks on the Filipino people under the US-backed Marcos dictatorship has ever been tried under any court in the Philippines.)

In an appearance before the House of Representatives, Garcia only kept mum and refused to answer the legislators' queries.

Garcia could become the first general to be tried before a court martial. Among the charges to be heard against him is Violation of Articles of War 96 or conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman.

The scandal over Garcia and other generals erupted following the apprehension by US immigration authorities of Garcia's wife for failing to declare that she has in her possession 100,000 US dollars.

Garcia's declared net worth as of 2003 is at 58,050 US dollars. However probes have led to the discovery of 2.5 million US dollars worth of ill-gotten wealth.

Garcia's wife told the US authorities that his husband, the AFP comptroller, receives commissions and perks amounting to millions of pesos.

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, who ran under the administration banner in the last elections, shocked the military establishment early this week with an expose claiming that AFP chiefs of staff were given at least P100-million each when they retire.

Santiago also alleged that AFP generals' wives also interfered in AFP processes in order to milk money from the military projects even as ordinary soldiers remain under-paid and ill-equipped.

Various groups have proposed that graft, corruption and plunder cases be filed before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan and the Ombudsman.

The partylist Bayan Muna (People First) has called for the arrest and prosecution of all erring generals but authorites have kept mum over the demand.

In a statement, CPP spokesperson Ka Roger Rosal called on Filipino soldiers, especially those of peasant origin and have long been suffering under the fascism and corruption of the AFP top brass, to raise their voices, launch protests, leave the AFP and join the New People’s Army.

The AFP was formed by the US during the latter's colonial rule over the Philippines in the early 1900s and has since been a steady recipient of US military aid.

The AFP and the US Armed Forces have ongoing joint military exercises or war games, activities that have been the subject of serious protest by people’s organizations, the CPP, the New People’s Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

See also: Bayan Muna picket at AFP headquarters

CPP diagnosis of AFP corruption scandal

Govt prosecutors ask court to seize Garcia's ill-gotten wealth

Since the dark days of martial law, October 21 is a day of protest for Philippine peasants against landlessness, poverty and state repression. This year, thousands of farmers and fisherfolk massed up in Metro Manila and provincial town centers to demand land, food and respect for human rights. In Quezon City, Hacienda Luisita farmers picketed the house of ex-president Cory Aquino whose family owns the hacienda in Tarlac. On October 20, farmers from allover Luzon held a street conference against landlessness, hunger and poverty at the gates of the Department of Agriculture. They were joined by representatives of other people's organizations and NGOs in a solidarity night later that day. On October 21 they held a short program in front of the Department of Agriculture before proceeding to Malcanang. In Welcome Rotonda, the border of Quezon City and Manila, the protesting farmers were stopped by the police. Undaunted, they decided to hold their program there.

Pictures: Picket at Cory's house | Street conference | Solidarity night 1 | Solidarity night 2 | Program at the Department of Agriculture | Caravan to Malacanang | Program at Welcome Rotonda | The crowd at Welcome Rotonda

See also: Hunger and World Food Day

Related stories:
Southern Tagalog farm strike gains ground
Welga ng magbubukid sa Kapitolyo ng Kabite, dinahas

The Quezon City Independent Media Center (QC Indymedia) stands in full solidarity with the Operation: Hard Drive By activity that is being organized in protest against the Oct. 7 seizures of the hard drives of two Indymedia servers in London at the request of the US Justice Department, apparently in collaboration with Italian and Swiss authorities.

The seizures led to the closure of an Indymedia radio station and around 20 Indymedia websites including those serving Ambazonia, Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles, Marseille, Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and West Vlaanderen, Antwerpen, Belgrade, Portugal, Prague, Galiza, Italy, Brazil, UK, and parts of Germany Indymedia. While the hard drives were returned on Oct. 13, the entire Indymedia community is still in the dark as to the legal reasons for the seizures, as there has been no explanation from the US, Italian, and Swiss authorities involved.

But one thing is for sure: the hard drive seizures had among their objectives the intimidation of a media network specializing in reportage and analysis exposing the canards behind the US-led war on “terror.”

We in QC Indymedia condemn the US-led international genocidal war and its perpetrators in the Coalition of the Willing, among them Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In our particular capacity as media-makers, we stand against the suppression of press freedom led by a government that claims to defend democracy, especially in furtherance of a war that sheds blood for gold.

We support Operation: Hard Drive By and are committed to the defense of press freedom and democracy against imperialist terrorism.

World Food Day came and went last Oct. 16 with hardly a whimper. Maybe this is due to the discomforting irony that on World Food Day's 24th year, 840 million people suffer from extreme hunger.

But in the Philippines the sector most affected by hunger--the peasantry--wasn't quiet. Hunger was the theme of the Oct. 15 World Rural Women's Day protest in Quezon City, which called for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The series of forthcoming peasant actions in observance of Peasant Week will also focus on the massive hunger in the Philippine countryside--where the country's food is produced.

Related stories:
Panay peasants observe World Food Day with a protest rally
Pahayag sa Pandaigdigang Araw ng Kawalan ng Pagkain