Educators’ Forum for Development
Amid upped military operations, educators reiterate call to save IP schools
March 23, 2017
In the aftermath of the Fourth Mindanao-Wide Conference of the Save our Schools (SOS) Network, transformative education group Educators Forum for Development (EfD) said that the Duterte administration should stop continuing attacks against indigenous people (IP)’s alternative schools. The EfD echoed calls by the SOS Network for military troops to halt operations in and pull […]
Lumad schools under attack in mineral-rich Mindanao
March 17, 2017
These Lumad schools, most of which are recognized by the Department of Education, have been under attack by State military and paramilitary troops known to secure big mining, logging, coal energy operations and corporate plantations. Thousands of teachers, students, and entire communities are victims of harassment, land grabbing, ransacking, encampment of public facilities, strafing, villification, […]
Free Day-Care Centers, Nurseries and Milk Banks/ Economic reforms the most compelling reason to continue the peace talks
February 5, 2017
Pres. Rodrigo Duterte recalled the government’s peace negotiators from negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) until being given “compelling reason” to resume talks. Research group IBON, however, points out that the most compelling reason for having peace talks are the economic and political reforms on the agenda that can address the roots […]
Free Education & Health Care/ Economic reforms the most compelling reason to continue the peace talks
February 5, 2017
Pres. Rodrigo Duterte recalled the government’s peace negotiators from negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) until being given “compelling reason” to resume talks. Research group IBON, however, points out that the most compelling reason for having peace talks are the economic and political reforms on the agenda that can address the roots […]
Change Underway?–The IBON 2016 Yearend Birdtalk
December 31, 2016
The overwhelming win of an unorthodox Presidential candidate in the May 2016 elections promised several windows for reforms. For a country stricken with poverty and a worsening jobs crisis, beyond a coarse-mannered figurehead, prospects that this new leadership could jumpstart measures to improve the lives of the poor majority of Filipinos were introduced. In […]
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 […]
Word-class bureaucrat capitalism under Marcos added to PH econ woes
November 24, 2016
“This narrative highlights the evils of dictatorship and abuse of power. But it falters in explaining why, over three decades after the end of the Marcos regime, the economy still remains so backward in the things that matter – job creation, poverty reduction, agricultural and industrial development, and policy sovereignty. “Bureaucrat capitalism under Marcos was […]
