Features
Buwis(et)! DOF’s Top 5 Tax Reform Lies
June 20, 2017
By Sonny Africa IBON FEATURES — The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN), the first part of the Duterte administration’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP), has hurdled the House of Representatives (HOR) and is up for deliberations at the Senate. The Department of Finance (DOF) targets approval of TRAIN, or House Bill No. […]
A challenge to reverse power privatization
June 16, 2017
In 2001, the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) was enacted with the promise of delivering affordable and reliable electricity to the country. Sixteen years later, electricity remains expensive and unreliable, and electric power industry monopoly has intensified, further enriching big firms. The following points elaborate on why the Duterte administration should all the more […]
PDP 2017-2022: Unchanged Market Fundamentalism (Second of Two Parts)
June 9, 2017
by Sonny Africa The Duterte administration’s public launch of its PDP 2017-2022 on June 2 somewhat coincidentally happened the day after the supposed June 1 end of the fifth round of peace talks between the Philippine government’s peace talks and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). The cancellation of talks by the government […]
PDP 2017-2022: Unchanged Market Fundamentalism (First of Two Parts)
June 6, 2017
by Sonny Africa The Duterte administration’s public launch of its PDP 2017-2022 on June 2 somewhat coincidentally happened the day after the supposed June 1 end of the fifth round of peace talks between the Philippine government’s peace talks and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). The cancellation of talks by the government […]
The Shin Sun workers – a test case for DO 174
May 27, 2017
IBON Features – The Korean-owned Shin Sun Tropical Fruit Corp. in Brgy. San Miguel, Compostella Valley has approximately 287 agency-hired banana workers employed under ECQ Serve Human Resources for different jobs such as harvesting, fruit care, plantation, and delivering services. Most of the workers had been working for the company for two to seven years […]
Four reasons why RCEP will be detrimental to Filipino farmers
May 16, 2017
The fight of Filipino peasants such as the farmworkers of Hacienda Luisita and Lapanday Foods Corporation for land, food, and justice, stands to be further undermined once the Philippine government fully accedes to the China-backed mega Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). While the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was seemingly put […]
Addressing the rampage of land use conversion
April 27, 2017
The land-to-the-tiller clamour mounts. This, amid the recent spate of farmers’ killings and other forms of military attacks against peasant communities nationwide. These human rights violations have escalated even after both panels of the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) have acknowledged in the on-going peace talks the country’s agrarian problem […]
Earth Day 2017 | Four towns and an Apple: Mining and environmental plunder
April 22, 2017
By Glenis Balangue A day before Earth Day, technology giant Apple made a bold claim. Blamed time and again for its role in sustaining the highly destructive mining industry, Apple said it plans to stop using minerals and metals for its famed iPhones and Macs. In its 2017 Environmental Responsibility Report, Apple said that to […]
‘Dutertenomics’: golden age of oligarchic and foreign interests in infrastructure?
April 20, 2017
“Build, build, build” is said to be the foundation of the Duterte administration’s development plan, which his economic managers are packaging as “Dutertenomics”. The plan is supposed to usher in a “golden age of infrastructure”. But despite the attempt at branding, Dutertenomics is neither new nor unique. Its cornerstone of massive infrastructure development is still […]
