BBM for health? Not really

December 17, 2024

The lack of essential health facilities reflects the broader deficiencies in the country’s healthcare infrastructure and its inability to provide adequate care to millions of Filipinos, particularly the poor.

2025 BBM: Budget Badly Made

December 17, 2024

The government easily decides on austerity for the poor, yet just as easily decides to give huge budgets for pork and patronage, infrastructure for the rich, and even sacred debt service.

IBON forum: People’s pressure crucial to hold erring public officials accountable

December 15, 2024

The move to impeach Sara Duterte should not be trivialized as just the falling-out of the Marcos and Duterte camps, but as a serious effort by Filipinos to collectively hold corrupt bureaucrats answerable. They agreed on the need for more forums and mobilizations to strengthen people’s solidarity on the impeachment move.

Rate expectations: Rethinking PH credit ratings

December 12, 2024

The economic managers don’t seem to realize that credit ratings are just, well, credit ratings. These shouldn’t be overstated as any kind of measure of economic performance or much less of national development.

The Long Game of Development

December 8, 2024

The current era remains fundamentally neoliberal in essence, agenda and practice – state power over the economy is still systematically wielded for the benefit of a few. In particular, the so-called market reforms that have made capitalist elites so prosperous remain in place.

PH “upper middle-income status” is just a number and a fantasy

December 1, 2024

The measure of being an upper-middle income country refers to an average that completely obscures the conditions of the majority. UMIC doesn’t really mean development in its most important sense of the well-being of people.

Are foreign investments in water what we need?

November 13, 2024

FEATURES

The government’s water supply and sanitation map declares the need for further private sector involvement and implies more foreign participation. But will this solve the country’s water predicament?

BBM admin to foreigners: Take our land, please

November 12, 2024

COMMENTARY

The proposal to increase the land lease limit to 99 years really won’t make much difference in making the Philippines more attractive to foreign investment, and certainly won’t mean anything for long-term economic development.

Unpacking data shows labor market getting worse — IBON

November 11, 2024

NEWS ANALYSIS

The nation needs leaders that genuinely care about the worsening welfare of Filipino citizens and are willing to push radical and meaningful measures that will really create better-quality jobs and higher incomes.