HACIENDA LUISITA — Protesting laborers and farm workers here, joined by their respective families and reinforced by militant activists, have practically taken control over nearly all movements in this sprawling sugar estate owned by the family of former President Corazon Aquino.
Full story...
Luisita resumes milling operations as tension eases
HACIENDA LUISITA — Tension has somewhat eased in this 6,000-hectare sugar plantation, as the ranks of the protesters who locked up the refinery during the weekend have thinned out, allowing the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) to resume its milling operations noontime Monday.
Full story...
Truck attacks force Luisita mill closure anew
HACIENDA LUISITA — The “violent and destructive” actions being carried out by alleged “troublemakers” among the ranks of protesters here has forced Luzon’s biggest sugar mill to shutdown anew its operations Tuesday morning, after these were briefly resumed around noontime last Monday.
Full story...
7-month long Rabbit strike ends
TARLAC CITY — The almost seven-month long strike in one of the country’s oldest transport company finally came to an end, as the Philippine Rabbit Bus Lines (PRBL) commenced plying major routes from Metro Manila to Central and Northern Luzon again.
Subic allows FedEx to operate ecozone hub until 2013
TARLAC CITY — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has recently decided to extend the lease contract of air courier giant, the Federal Express (FedEx), up to August 2010.
Int’l media watchdog: RP hostile for journalists
TARLAC CITY — Although the country has a “free and lively press,” the Philippines has been counted by the Paris-based international media watchdog as one of the places most hostile to journalists.
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The Tarlac Headlines News Central displays all the news of our latest issues.
October 1 - 31, 2004
Hundreds stranded in Tarlac City transport strike
TARLAC CITY — Hundreds of commuters going back to their homes in the 17 towns of the province were stranded in this city late Friday following the paralysis of about ninety percent of transportation here.
Majority of the members of the Tarlac Transport Federation (TTF) carried out a general strike to protest the city government’s “experimental traffic rerouting scheme.”
TFF president, Rey Jimenez, said that drivers and operators of more than 1,500 passenger jeepneys and minibuses from the 30 different transport groups affiliated with the federation joined the protest action.
Jimenez claimed that the implementation of the new traffic scheme was “untimely,” as it supposedly worsened their burdens that have been caused by rising gasoline and diesel prices.
It was last Oct. 16 when the city government pushed for a test implementation of its new traffic scheme designed to ease gridlocks along major thoroughfares here.
The transport leader claimed that they were “not consulted” when local officials here implemented the new traffic scheme.
Among those primarily complaining were jeepney and minibus drivers who ply the routes linking this city to the southern towns of Capas, Concepcion and Bamban.
Under the new scheme, they were prevented from taking the San Roque junction to relieve the bottlenecks along portions of the Romulo Boulevard from where the Tarlac State University’s main campus, the MagicStar Mall and the San Sebastian Cathedral of the Catholic diocese here are located.
Instead, public utility vehicles plying the Tarlac City-Capas-Concepcion-Bamban routes were to traverse through the MacArthur Highway up to the common transport terminal in Barangay San Nicolas here.
Backing up the protesting drivers from Capas, Concepcion and Bamban were their respective mayors, Reynaldo Catacutan, Noel Villanueva and Florante Cojuangco.
But this city’s mayor, Genaro Mendoza, pleaded with the affected drivers and his fellow mayors to give his administration’s new traffic program “a chance.”
“We are still on the experimental stage, and the proposed traffic scheme is still subject to adjustments based on the comments and suggestions of the public, especially the drivers and operators of jeepneys and minibuses," Mendoza explained.
But Jimenez insisted on the TTF’s position that the new traffic routing plan be “immediately stopped,” as he claimed that the longer distance being traveled in this city by public utility vehicles have affected their livelihood.
Joel Romero, president of the 3M Association, the 485-strong group of jeepney drivers that ply the city proper’s main route, said that while they confront the series of oil price hikes, they also have to contend with the boundary fees that each driver has to raise before being able to earn for one’s self every time they ply their routes.
It was last Sept. 17 when the new traffic scheme was supposed to be first experimented here, but this was snagged by some legislative technicalities that required the suspension of the old traffic ordinance.
While other affected sectors here similarly appealed to transport leaders to give the new route plan a chance before raising criticisms, the TTF already issued a stern warning that they will continue with their protest until the city government orders a return to the old traffic scheme.
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