International News - In The Press

Over 100 women from seven continents joined the International Womens Alliance (IWA) which focused on landlessness and widespread land grabbing.The women gathered on July 5 and 6 in Quezon City to discuss the 2011 World Bank report on Agriculture and Rural Development which noted that 75% of the world's poor live in rural areas and are mostly involved in agriculture.  read more »

MANILA, Philippines – The Social Weather Stations survey showing five of 10 Filipinos approving of divorce should prompt Congress to seriously consider passing a divorce law, an advocate said Thursday.

“This survey also reflects an increased awareness on the issue that will hopefully lead to more productive debates towards the crafting of a divorce law in the Philippines. I hope this prods colleagues in Congress to give attention to and be open to proposals to enact a divorce law,” Gabriela party-list Representative Luz Ilagan said in a statement.  read more »

“What is happening in Mustad is a textbook case of illegal closure.. .of capitalists drastically undertaking illegal and anti-worker measures because they are confident the Aquino government won’t lift a finger to harm them,” said Leandro “Ka Doods” Gerodias, KMU deputy secretary-general and president of the Alliance of Democratic Labor Organizations (ADLO). By MARYA SALAMAT

MANILA. Authors of the Divorce Bill at the House of Representatives yesterday welcomed the idea of a referendum to feel the pulse of the public on their proposed measure.

Gabriela Party-List Rep. Luz Ilagan replied, "Why not?" when she was asked if they would support a referendum on divorce, similar to Sunday's referendum in Malta which saw citizens voting in favor of the measure.  read more »

Party-list representatives on Monday urged President Benigno Aquino III to raise the issue of the Filipino comfort women during his official visit to Japan on November 14.

Gabriela Reps. Emmi de Jesus and Luzviminda Ilagan and Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano filed a resolution urging Aquino to ask the Japanese government to formally acknowledge, apologize and accept responsibility over the sexual slavery of Filipino women during the World War II.  read more »

Bayan Muna (People First) party-list Rep. Saturnino "Satur" C. Ocampo yesterday said he and Gabriela Women's party-list Rep. Liza L. Maza were still considering the offer of Senator Manuel B. Villar, Jr.’s NP to be included in the party’s senatorial ticket.  read more »

Manila: House members Satur Ocampo and Liza Largoza-Masa filed their candidacies Sunday  in a move that marks the first time in more than two decades that senatorial candidates identified with the left had attempted to seek mandate on a national level.  read more »

You’ve probably heard of the Philippines recently because of one reason: typhoons. A series of storms hit the country in September and October. At one point 80 percent of Manila, a city of 11.5 million people, was under water. Nearly one thousand people were killed in the worst storms in forty years.  read more »

WASHINGTON D.C. - The Philippines' largest left-leaning political group is shopping around for a presidential candidate to back on May 2010.  read more »

DAGUPAN CITY, PHIILIPPINES–Filipino-Americans under the banner of BAYAN-USA, a US-wide alliance of 14 Filipino organizations, have been actively responding to the needs of the victims of typhoons Ketsana (Ondoy) and Parma (Pepeng) that slammed through the Philippines in the past few weeks killing hundreds and devastating thousands. In addition to conducting on-the-ground emergency relief operations in the Philippines, the alliance reached its projected goal of $15,000 for BALSA (Bayanihan Alay Para Sa Sambayanan), a broad, multi-sectoral disaster relief organization affiliated with its mother alliance, BAYAN Philippines, in addition to gathering dozens of boxes across the US filled with in-kind donations of clothes, food, and medicine.  read more »