OLONGAPO CITY --This Christmas season, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo paints a rosy picture for workers especially in so-called “industrial enclaves” such as the Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) in Pampanga and the Subic Bay Free Port Economic Zone (SBFEZ). But the reality for workers here are low wages, harsh working conditions and curtailment of their right to unionize and bargain for better terms.

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HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac -- They came back, not in the thousands as they did when the massacre occurred two years ago, but with the same fervor to continue their struggle for land and justice in Hacienda Luisita.

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HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac -- It’s harvest time and the men and women of Barangay [village] Asturias in Hacienda Luisita are busy cutting rice stalks from the paddies, hauling them to the small mechanical thresher and gathering the golden rice grains into bags for drying and storage.

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TARLAC CITY -- Bishop Alberto Ramento, the ninth Supreme Bishop of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente [IFI] was among the first to arrive at the hospital in Tarlac City where Fr. William Tadena was brought after being shot and killed in the morning of March 3, 2005.

Exactly 18 months later last October 3, Bishop Ramonte may well be the latest victim of the “state persecution” he fought against. He was killed at dawn as he slept at the rectory of the IFI church in Tarlac City where he was the diocesan bishop.

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