News

Local mining contributes to foreign industries but leaves PH with little benefit
September 17, 2015
97% of mineral production in the Philippines goes to foreign industries As the Philippine Chamber of Mines concludes its international mining conference today, research group IBON reiterates that industries of other countries reap more benefits from large-scale mining in the Philippines than the local economy. The three-day international mining conference, held in Solaire Resort Hotel […]

Educators demand immediate pullout of military from Lumad schools
September 10, 2015
Lumad students have always faced disruption of classes every time military operations escalate in their communities Members of the Education Forum for Development (EfD) called for the immediate pullout and disbanding of paramilitary and military groups occupying Lumad communities and disrupting classes in the schools. The EfD expresses concern that Lumad students are not in […]

Educators’ group to Aquino: take action on killing of educator and continued military occupation of Lumad schools
September 2, 2015
Silence or inaction to address matter tantamount to govt’s promotion of big business at the expense of indigenous people’s communities The Education Forum for Development (EfD), a network of 100 schools nationwide advocating transformative education, condemned the killing of Emerito “Emok” Samarca, executive director of the Alternative Learning Center for Livelihood and Agricultural Development (ALCADEV), […]

Address slowing growth, government told
August 28, 2015
The administration’s economic managers should focus on strengthening the agriculture and manufacturing sectors to arrest the current slowdown Research group IBON said that government should be concerned about the country’s slowing growth and the slowdown in agriculture and manufacturing. Although the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the gross domestic product (GDP) grew in the second […]

Growth to remain unsustainable, shallow under globalization framework–IBON
August 14, 2015
Trend of slowing economy and shrinking production persists precisely because the government has merely continued to rely on foreign markets and capital to push growth Despite recent claims made by Malacanang on the improving economy, the anticipated economic slowdown in the second quarter of 2015 affirms the trend of weakening economic growth. According to research […]

DAP-like mechanism persists in proposed 2016 budget
August 10, 2015
The proposed 2016 budget includes an apparent attempt to legalize DAP through Section 63 of the 2016 NEP’s general provisions Despite a Supreme Court decision last year declaring the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) unconstitutional, a mechanism to retain discretionary lump-sum funds persists in the proposed 2016 budget, research group IBON said. Instituted by Department of […]
Proposed 2016 budget: billions of PPP funds allotted to support private sector profits
August 7, 2015
These cover expenses for right-of-way acquisition and displacement of informal settlers by at least 13 road and expressway projects Contrary to Pres. Benigno Aquino’s claims that the government is not spending for public-private partnerships (PPPs) and that the private sector is even paying the government, billions of pesos are again allotted for selected PPP projects […]
Proposed 2016 national budget prone to abuse in election year
August 6, 2015
There are large lump-sum amounts including suspiciously for local governments Research group IBON said that the proposed 2016 national government budget is vulnerable to abuse in the critical 2016 election year. There are large lump-sum amounts including suspiciously for local governments, as well as an apparent attempt to give the administration greater flexibility to declare […]

Aquino Legacy: Wealth of richest tripled
July 24, 2015
The administration’s policies have ensured that the profit-seeking interests of big business are met The country’s few rich became richer while wages and incomes remained low for millions of working Filipinos in the last five years. This would be one of the clear legacies of the Aquino administration, research group IBON said. What government claims […]