Features

Bracing for El Nino

April 2, 2016

We are reposting this article in the wake of the massacre of 3 farmers in Kidapawan who were among those who collectively sought rice support from government amid the El Nino drought.   By Arnold Padilla IBON Features—El Niño is not expected to occur until late June or July, with its impact likely to be felt by […]

Day of the Landless: Deepening foreign control over PH farmlands thru financialization

March 31, 2016

Peasant and indigenous people’s groups in the region mark 29 March as the Global Day of the Landless. Initiated by the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC), it highlights the rural communities’ continuing struggle for land. In the Philippines, such struggle remains meaningful amid widespread landlessness still gripping its countryside. Decades of attempts at land reform have […]

“No home birthing” policy: burden to Filipino mothers

March 8, 2016

A mother in the town of Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro who belongs to the Mangyan tribe recalled how her husband had to pay a penalty at the municipal hall so that he could get their child’s registration of live birth. Meanwhile, another mother in the hinterlands of Eastern Samar had to borrow money to rent a house for […]

Not the future we want: 4 Marcos-era socioeconomic problems that live on

March 2, 2016

IBON FEATURES – The late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos’ martial law legacy figured in the various ways that the EDSA People Power uprising’s 30th anniversary was commemorated recently. What darkened this period aside from the gross human rights violations were socioeconomic woes that were compounded by the Marcos regime’s policy decisions and action. Of these, […]

Tatanda Ka Rin: Social Security for Lolo and Lola

February 3, 2016

Hard to imagine that Pres. Aquino and Social Security Service (SSS) officials would have opposed the Php2,000 pension hike if they were low-income senior citizens on the receiving end of meagre SSS pensions By Sonny Africa Manila Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, at the recently concluded International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in Cebu City, lamented individualism […]

Presidential bets vow PPP continuity amid business, foreign lobby

January 18, 2016

The PPP program’s fate is one of the main concerns of the business community as the country transitions from the current administration to the next by Arnold Padilla IBON Features – Some of those challenging the incumbent regime in the coming polls have raised issues on the public-private partnership (PPP) program. This as the Aquino […]

Searching for an Alternative to the WTO: Revisiting the Bandung Conference

December 19, 2015

The system we replace this with does not have to be as equally hegemonic but it must at least respect the diversity of our alternatives By Sonny Africa The World Trade Organization (WTO) is on its twentieth year of existence as it holds its tenth ministerial conference in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. It has […]

The erosion of the right to health in Aquino’s ‘Daang Matuwid’

December 14, 2015

The Philippine government has treated health as a commodity, subjected it to a market-driven system, unprotected and unregulated Approaching election season, the Aquino administration brandishes the accomplishment of universal health care as a legacy that would be continued by Liberal Party candidates. Yet, what the Aquino presidency does not mention is how his administration eroded […]

The Aquino administration’s socioeconomic rights violations

December 10, 2015

 In addition to its widely-known civil and political rights violations, the Aquino administration is also the biggest violator of economic, social and cultural rights in the country The Aquino administration has the duty to uphold, protect and promote the human rights of all Filipinos. This is the responsibility of every government. The administration’s civil and […]