Testigo October-November 2009 Issue

FARMERS NOW OCCUPY, TILL LAND IN NEGROS– A NEW AND WELCOME EXPERIENCE!  -- Bago City, Northern Negros-- Kagawad Eddie, as he is fondly known in his barangay, could still not describe his feeling as he woke up one morning from a makeshift tent in the middle of the 81-hectare hacienda. The land was bought almost three years ago by controversial insurance firm owner Celso Delos Angeles. Almost six months has passed since Kagawad Eddie and other hacienda farmers put up a “tent city” inside the hacienda and started to assert their right to occupy a portion of the farmland.

MOST FILIPINOS CAN’T BUY ENOUGH FOOD, HAVE TROUBLE PAYING ELECTRIC BILLS, BASIC COSTS  -SURVEY -- More Filipinos have trouble buying enough food and paying for basic expenses, according to the latest IBON nationwide survey.  Of the 1,495 respondents, 65.5% said that their family had a problem buying enough food, an increase from 61.9% last April, while 69.5% had trouble paying for electricity and water bills.

GROUP QUESTIONS QUALITY OF JOBS CREATED. SAYS GOVERNMENT DEPLOYED MORE MIGRANT WORKERS THAN IT CREATED JOBS --  The National Statistics Office (NSO) reported a surprising 1.5 million jobs created in April 2009 from the same period last year. But research group IBON Foundation questions the quality of these jobs, saying that some 1.3 million are apparently jobs that are low-earning and insecure.

ANOTHER MALTREATED PINAY OFW RETURNS HOME WITHOUT GOV’T HELP -- Another Filipina domestic worker, a victim of abuse and maltreatment, this time from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), returned home today to be finally reunited with her family.

EMPLOYEES OF PHILIPPINE AIRLINES FACE ANOTHER ROUND OF MASSIVE RETRENCHMENT --  Different unions, organizations and individuals under the Defend Jobs Philippines Campaign expressed solidarity to the employees of Philippine Airlines (PAL) who will be directly affected by the management’s plan of outsourcing and massive retrenchment.

ONLY P1.10 PER FILIPINO PER DAY FOR HEALTH SERVICES IN 2010 BUDGET PROPOSAL -- Under the 2010 national government budget, the health sector is allocated P37.9 billion or a mere P1.10 per capita per day. This is only 2.46% of the total national budget. Based on an estimated population of 94.01 million for 2010, this means that real per capita spending is just P403 per Filipino for health services.