National Socioeconomic Situation
Filipinos denied economic, social and cultural rights
December 11, 2016
One thing underscored as the nation retackles the Marcos dictatorship is its legacy of neoliberal policies which, far beyond even its huge corruption or ammassed debt, still impacts on the Filipino people’s lives and livelihoods today. Subsequent administrations’ adherence to these policies has kept the Philippine economy backward and underdeveloped while serving the needs […]
Food producers poorer, hungry three years after Yolanda
December 10, 2016
Despite about Php144 billion in funds, the Philippine government has barely delivered on the planned rehabilitation and reconstruction in Yolanda affected areas. The people are more vulnerable, poorer and hungry with uncertain livelihoods and security of tenure. For most farming communities in Eastern Visayas, production has not recovered. “Many farmers are only able to […]
Round Table Discussion on Sustainable Agriculture
December 8, 2016
Ensuring Safe Food, Improving Livelihood and Incomes, towards Rural Development The Round Table Discussion will be a venue to discuss options for attaining food self-sufficiency, improved incomes and promoting rural development, specifically: aggressive promotion of sustainable agriculture practices like organic farming as the viable alternative to conventional chemical farming, implementation of genuine agrarian reform program, improving irrigation and provision of the […]
Honoring Capt. Danilo P. Vizmanos
November 30, 2016
As the nation celebrates the birth of Filipino hero and revolutionary Andres Bonifacio, IBON honors the memory of Captain Danilo P. Vizmanos, Philippine Navy Captain-turned-political activist during the dark years of Martial Law. He was imprisoned in 1972 shortly after he resigned from the Philippine Navy. In his 1970 National Defense College of the Philippines […]
Use funds to hasten Yolanda rehab, Duterte gov’t urged
November 29, 2016
Research group IBON echoed the call for government to expedite Yolanda rehabilitation as the typhoon survivors trooped to Manila to air their grievances. Government should make use of the billions of pesos in relief funds and resources to help millions of survivors who have for three years now been struggling to recover their homes and […]
EV agri neglected despite billions in Yolanda funds
November 28, 2016
As disaster survivors from Eastern Visayas converge in Manila to bare mounting poverty, hunger and injustice in the region, research group IBON said that the region’s agriculture and fisheries sector are slow to recover despite billions in available Yolanda funds. The group noted that while a significant number of people in Eastern Visayas depend on […]
Marcos-initiated “globalization” led to PH economic decline
November 26, 2016
“In 1980, the Marcos regime actually made the Philippines the first country in Asia and the second country in the world, after Turkey, to be at the receiving end of a World Bank structural adjustment loan (SAL). The conditionalities of the US$200 million loan included among others tariff cuts, removal of import licenses and […]
Marcos ensured US-directed IMF/WB intervention in PH policy making
November 25, 2016
“The rule of Nacionalista Party’s Ferdinand E. Marcos which began in 1965 was strong on nationalist and patriotic rhetoric. Yet Pres. Marcos was by no means a nationalist if ‘nation’ is understood as the majority of Filipinos and ‘nationalism’ as upholding their interests and asserting Filipino sovereignty over foreign powers. “Most anti-nationalist president. […]
Under Marcos dictatorship unemployment worsened, prices soared, poverty persisted
November 25, 2016
“The decade 1975-1986 was actually a time of intense social crisis and economic difficulty for most Filipinos. The unemployment rate was falling in the early years of the Marcos regime – from 7.1% in 1966 to 3.9% in 1975. But this reversed in the mid-1970s to rapidly rise back to 7.9% in 1980. The […]
