Irreversible: envionmental costs of large-scale mining

November 8, 2012

IBON Featues | 8 November 2012 | Through the years, large-scale mining has caused deforestation and pollution as well as irreversible destruction to the ecology IBON Features– For spilling more than 15 million cubic meters of mine sediments from its Padcal mine tailings ponds in August, the Philex Mining Corporation figured in the news again. […]

Latest poverty measure: excluding the poor from the poverty count

July 31, 2012

IBON Features | 31 July 2012 | The Philippines seemed closer to reaching the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing poverty by half than if the old poverty methodology were used IBON Features—At 10 p.m., Aling Teresing, a mother in her mid-40s together with her 18-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son begin flattening scrap boxes to […]

SONA 2012: Reporting housekeeping and half-truths

July 22, 2012

IBON Features | By Sonny Africa | The 2012 SONA was selective in the data it presented and dealt in half-truths, A few stand out for the misleading picture of the economy that they seek to create. IBON Features— State of the nation addresses (SONAs) are typically exercises in political advertising rather than government road […]

Exclusionary Economics: How Aquino and Arroyo economics are the same

July 22, 2012

IBON Features | COMMENTARY | The reality behind the so-called gains must however be assessed before concluding that the Aquino administration has indeed been the much-sought change following former Pres. Arroyo’s legacy of corruption IBON Features— In his upcoming third State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Benigno Aquino III will surely attempt to highlight […]

Minimum Wage vs Living Wage

July 19, 2012

Philippine labor force, domestic and abroad

July 19, 2012

Perception economics: two years of the Aquino administration

July 1, 2012

IBON Features | Commentary | By Sonny Africa | The administration is hard-pressed to provide similar glowing accounts of sustainable development on the ground because there are still no such gains to speak of IBON Features— The Aquino administration asserts that “good governance leads to good economics” and points to rapid economic growth in the […]

Conditional Cash Transfers, from beneficiaries’ view

June 23, 2012

IBON FEATURES | Below are a few anecdotal evidence that, although illustrative and rich, does not replace a comprehensive assessment that a program of this size requires. Stories from CCT communities give us a picture that is different from how government describes the positive impact of its anti-poverty program IBON Features— The Department of Social […]

Green economy and the road to Rio

June 14, 2012

IBON Features | By Rosario Bella Guzman | The proposed ‘Road to Rio’ still looks at nature, people and their products as capital that must be used in the most efficient manner for profit accumulation IBON Features—Hundreds of heads of states are expected to attend the Earth Summit on June 20 to 22, back in […]