Vinia Datinguinoo Mukherjee: Congratulations, PCIJ! Mabuhay kayo!
Lead Philippines: But without credible mass media there, what is left to protect the people..?
vonjobi: it's juned sOniDo.
Lead Philippines: Can't believe this is still happening in the country. If the government does nothing, I won't be...
Keith Bacongco: who could we forget Alecks here in Mindanao... aside from PCIJ trainings, he also helped us a lot...

Latest Message 3 days, 17 hours ago

hopeless_race : Sana itreat naman po ng media ang hacienda luisita at mendiola massacre na parang MAGUINADANAO MASSACRE. Ipublicized ang mga katotohanan at ipakita sa tao ang karumaldumal na pinaggagawa sa mga farmers dun. Untouchable po ba sila cory at danding at hindi magawang batikusin ng media about these two massacres?
hopeless_race : Kapag napaguusapan ang mendiola at hacienda luisita massacre ay parang walang nangyari at parang hindi big deal. Anu po ba ang pinagkaiba ng dalawang nabanggit na massacre sa maguindanao massacre?
hopeless_race : Its sad that we pinoys are blind to the fact of what had happened in mendiola and hacienda luisita. Ang tanong..bakit ang media ay hindi manlang matackle ang ganitong usapin? Takot ba sila kay cory at danding?
hopeless_race : Wilkins" brand, for P1.4 billion.-1999 Sugarland Multi-Food Corp. for P2.9 billion 2001- Purefoods Corp P7 billion P60 billion Coca-Cola ... See More 2002- Cosmos Bottling Corp. from RFM Corp. for P14.1 billion October 2008- GSIS' shares in Meralco worth PHP30 Billion. December 2008- country's biggest oil refiner, Petron Corporation. international company shopping spree: Australian boutique brewer J. Boag and Son for A$96 million in 2000. $97 million for Thai Amarit Brewery Ltd $35.5 mi
hopeless_race : Gud am..glad to be back.
jr_lad : rip mr. alecks pabico. you'll be greatly missed!
sevens21 : Dati input mo lng name at SSS ID makukuha mo agad STATIC INFO...
sevens21 : tawag ka sa HOTLINE nila walang ANSWER grrr we need pa namn ng static info SSS Gising!!!
sevens21 : Gawa naman po kayo ng article about SSS. Pangit ng site nila dali ma blocked ng account
guest_899 : we must check the background of each potential candidates to avoid having another big mistake like GMA
guest_899 : congratulations to PCIJ, more power and God Bless !
jazzymuver : how did Arroyo swallow that kind of things!! how come that she just spend the money our countrymen for her own sake!!
guest_3664 : i would be glad if u can include the investigation of the manner public officials announce infra projects as per COA regulation. It is frustrating to see their faces on the tarpaulin instead of the prescribed information like name of project, date of implementation,amount of contract, source/s of fund, among other things. This is very rampant here in Marikina. Thanks and more power on your noble endeavors. We need people like you to have make our country great again.
jhanz_08 : im making research on R.A 9136...with rgards to the privatization of NPC..could someone out there can let me understand more bout this matter?why was monopoly dismantled?email me..jhanycem@yahoo.com...thanks much
erika marie : P.S.:) my paper is due next week and i do hope someone could provide me these reports coming from reliable resources thank you ulit.
erika marie : P.S.
guest_4275 : i am currently doing a study regarding political killings in the philippines. could someone out there please send me human rights reports under Aquino and Ramos administration. you could send it at my email: erikamariet@yahoo.com your response would surely be very much appreciated. thank you everyone. god bless.
guest_4275 : i am currently doing a study for my paper regarding political killings in the philippines. i noted that there are no human rights reports during the Aquino and Ramos administration. could someone out there please send me reports regarding these matter? i do hope these reports came from reliable resources you could send it in my email; erikamariet@yahoo.comyour response would surely be appreciated. thanks everyone. god bless.
jayson bourne : gusto ko po maging member ng PCIJ, panu po ba? may application po ba? sana mapadalhan nyo ako ng info sa email ko... www.jboxpenshoppe@yahoo.com
jayson bourne : cory is OK, but kris & Noynoy sensationalize masyado...
guest_9891 : LABAN pa rin!
meow : boycotts worked during marcos years. how about doing it now against the businesses of the con-ass congressmen?
meow : aside from 168, what other establishments can we boycott that belong to the arroyos and their cronies?
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Working class loses a defender in ‘Ka Bel’

Posted by: Isa Lorenzo | May 20, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Filed under: Congress Watch, In the News

ANAKPAWIS party-list representative Crispin ‘Ka Bel’ Beltran, a longtime labor leader who persistently struggled for workers’ rights, died at 11:48 a.m. today at the Far Eastern University Hospital. He was 75.

Anakpawis partylist Rep. Crispin Beltran [photo by Dabet Castañeda] Beltran sustained a fatal head injury after he fell from the roof of his house in Bulacan early this morning. He had climbed up to do some repairs, his family told the media.

His lifelong dedication to pushing for labor rights was sparked at the age of 20, when he joined his first strike along with fellow drivers from the Manila Yellow Taxicab company. Three people were killed during confrontations with the police.

Beltran went on to organize numerous labor groups, including the Amalgamated Taxi Drivers Association, the Confederation of Labor of the Philippines, and the Philippine Workers Congress.

He then joined the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno and was arrested during martial law, along with the labor federation’s top leaders, including its chairman Felixberto Olalia. Beltran, however, escaped in November 1984 .

Beltran became KMU’s secretary-general in the 1980s, working alongside then chairman Rolando Olalia. He rose to the chairmanship after Olalia, along with his driver, was brutally murdered in November 1986.

During that year, he also failed in a bid to become a senator under the Partido ng Bayan.

Beltran stepped down as head of the KMU in 2003, but remained its chairman emeritus until his death. He then served as chairperson of the multisector alliance Bayan (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan) from 1993 to 1999 until his election to Congress as representative of the party-list group Bayan Muna in 2001.

He was on his third term as a representative, having been reelected in 2004 and 2007 under the Anakpawis party-list.

KMU chairperson Elmer Labog called Beltran the “Great Grand Old Man of Philippine Labor” and said that he would be given the highest honor by KMU. “Isa siyang magiting na lider manggagawa at tagapagtanggol ng karapatan na kinikilala at nirerespeto ng marami, laluna ng mga pinaka-pinagsasamantalahan at pinaka-api (He was an honorable labor leader and human rights defender respected by many, including the most oppressed),” Labog added in a statement.

Last February 2006, he was arrested without a warrant after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of national emergency. Beltran was charged with rebellion along with five other progressive party-list representatives. The Supreme Court ordered the Department of Justice to dismiss the case in 2007, ending more than a year of hospital arrest for Beltran.

While in hospital detention, Beltran firmly denied that he was a communist, saying he was not even qualified to be a socialist because he believed in private property and that people must work for their livelihood.

“What we are fighting for in the long run is for the Philippines to have peace, to have democracy, to respect human rights and to have social justice. That is under nationalism and democracy. I am a national democrat.”

His former chief of staff, Ina Silverio, described Beltran as “an internationalist, a man with the highest socialist ideals, and he lived and practiced what he believed in on a daily basis. He was a good father and husband, never mind that he was never a good provider. He shared what he had with others, be it the last crumpled P20 bill in his battered wallet, or his wide knowledge of history, politics and economics.”

Independent Senator Francis Pangilinan paid tribute to Beltran as “one of the Philippines’ foremost champions of civil liberties and social equity.”

“We fought aggressively side by side Ka Bel against an overzealous administration that backed the (Executive Order) 464, the Calibrated Preemptive Response and (Presidential Proclamation) 1017, against the ‘indecent proposal’ to back a bogus impeachment complaint, and against his and fellow party list group lawmakers’ illegal arrest and detention for rebellion charges. We must not forget these many battles that the late Rep. Beltran fought, and we must, in his legacy, push on with our efforts to promote human rights and restore the fear and respect for the rule of law,” Pangilinan said.

Beltran authored at least nine bills and 66 resolutions. He pushed for the passage of a P125 across-the-board wage increase for workers, a P3,000 across-the-board salary hike for government employees, the repeal of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) and pressed for an end to the worsening civil, political and human rights situation in the country.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 and is filed under Congress Watch, In the News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 people have left comments

A GREAT LOSS, BUT NOTHING TO MOURN!

A power is passing from the earth
To breathless Nature’s dark abyss;
But when the great and good depart,
What is it more than this—
That Man who is from God sent forth,
Doth yet again to God return?—
Such ebb and flow must ever be,
Then wherefore should we mourn?

William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850)

jcc wrote on May 20, 2008 - 11:19 pm | Visit Link

It is the mass of workers, who have no command and power, and must simply obey.

For which the statuses of wealth, power, and prestige are the components of social space mutually ordering and ranking people.

The elite class will never mourn…for Ka Bel was not fighting for them. Ka Bel raised his fist for the weak, which are the masses, the labor group, the poorest of the poor…which his heart belongs…where he leads these people to have human rights(not violation), democracy, and social justice (specially from the elite & feeling elite).

Imagine how he died…he never called for the working masses to fix his roof.

nosi balasi wrote on May 21, 2008 - 1:42 pm | Visit Link

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever Gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of Circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of Chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

peace be with you, ka bel. your efforts will be forever remembered, and young as i maybe, i recongnize it and will follow forth.

theLioness wrote on May 23, 2008 - 10:20 am | Visit Link

INVICTUS

In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud;
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

William Ernest Henley (1849 - 1903)

It either sounds courage or self-conceit.

How I wish Ka Bel has this personality:

Captain Of My Soul

My sails were torn and battered
and my ship was sinking fast;
I could not stay on course
when I turned to you at last.

I thought that I could handle it
and make it on my own;
But I knew I was in trouble,
out here all alone.
I knew I needed you Lord
to help me make it through;

I knew that I was lost
and I knew not what to do.
Why couldn’t I have looked beyond
and saw what lay ahead;
Because I had a will so strong
I was sinking here instead.

Down on my knees to you Lord
I begged your help that day;
I promised I would follow you
and let you lead the way.
You never hesitated Lord
but turned my ship around;

You brought my ship safe into port
and set my feet upon dry ground.
Now you are the captain
of both my heart and soul
You’re always at the helm for me
and I know I’ll safely reach my goal.

Helen Johnson

jcc wrote on May 23, 2008 - 9:03 pm | Visit Link