April, 2008

Gabriela Women’s Party filed today a bill extending the allowed maternity leave from the current period of 60 days for normal deliveries and 78 days for caesarean section deliveries to as much as 120 days, as recommended by the International Labor Organization Convention 183 on Maternity Protection.  read more »

“While judicial processes must be respected, we in Gabriela Women’s Party remain doubtful of the investigation conducted by the Philippine National Police which is the basis of the warrants issued today.”

“Though this has long been ignored, our demand for an independent probe on the November 13 Batasan blast stays. Until then, justice for the victims of the Batasan blast remains elusive”  read more »

The hearing today on the motion for the judicial determination of probable cause filed by Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Liza Maza, Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casino (Bayan Muna) and Rep. Rafael Mariano (Anakpawis) has been reset to May 12 by Judge Evelyn Turla of Branch 40, Palayan City Nueva Ecija RTC.  read more »

“There is no point in extending a bogus land reform program that has served to strengthen the hold of big landowners, agro-corporations and multinationals over vast tracts of land.”

Thus explained Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Liza Largoza Maza, in voting “NO” to the proposed extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program which was approved at the committee level yesterday.  read more »

Members of Gabriela Women’s Partylist today stormed the office of the National Food Authority(NFA) to denounce the pull-out of NFA rice priced at P18.25 from most of the 108 public markets in the National Capital Region.

The P25 high variety rice from the United States was said to replace the cheaper NFA rice in the markets.

Cristina Palabay, secretary general of the women’s party, said this move will aggravate the situation of the largely impoverished consumers, who cannot afford the P25/kilo rice.  read more »

The militant women's partylist group Gabriela today criticized as a mere spin, President Arroyo's supposed bid to have pro-poor measures passed including a measure implementing tax exemption for minimum wage earners.

"This is but an attempt to appease growing restiveness as prices of oil, rice and basic commodities continue to rise. The truth is, a great majority of the population will not at all benefit from this measure," said Rep. Maza.  read more »

As Congress sets to deliberate anew on proposals to extend the comprehensive agrarian reform program, representatives of the militant partylist group Gabriela today said extending the failed CARP will inevitably lead to a rice crisis of larger proportions and to further food insecurity in the coming years.  read more »

“The persecution of critics is a crisis management strategy of the Arroyo government. That fabricated cases of murder, kidnapping and rebellion are being revived against progressive partylist representatives in the midst of a worsening rice crisis, unemployment and urgent demands for wage hikes and price controls, show this governments determination to eliminate dissenting voices and legitimate protests. The timing is impeccable.”  read more »

Women’s partylist group Gabriela today said the move of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs reverting House Resolution 124 to the committee level is a possible indication that the Japanese government has started meddling into deliberations on legislative measures pertaining to the comfort women.  read more »

Assistant Minority Floor Leader and Gabriela Partylist Rep. Liza Maza today said it would be best for Malacanang to certify as urgent, bills that will implement a legislated wage increase for workers rather than to just allow the regional wage boards to decide on the wage hikes.  read more »

Gabriela Women's Party representative Liza Maza expressed today her disappointment at the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs' decision to return House Resolution 124 to the committee level. The resolution was approved last March 11.  read more »

GABRIELA National Alliance of Women said the current situation of soaring prices of rice and other basic commodities is already a "state of calamity," which should have already given President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo every reason to impose price ceiling on basic commodities as mandated by the 1992 Price Act.  read more »

“Hunger, crisis and food insecurity is what we will reap from the Arroyo government’s solutions of rice importation and continued neglect of the agricultural sector.”

Thus said Gabriela Womens Party Rep. Liza Maza as she criticized the government’s move to lift import quotas. “More importation will not guarantee consumers of cheaper rice prices and it spells the death of rice production in our country.”  read more »