Birdtalk Midyear 2024 Materials

July 15, 2024

Yearstarter 2022: Out with the old, seeking the new

February 5, 2022

The next administration will not only have to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of the Duterte administration’s COVID-19 response. It will also have to fix many things going wrong with the economy even before the pandemic hit.

2021 Yearstarter: Solving the pandemic crisis

February 21, 2021

The Philippines has the worst performing economy in ASEAN and is set to have the worst performing to as far away as South Asia and the rest of East Asia

2020: Beginning of the End?

February 11, 2020

The administration oddly launched a ‘Duterte Legacy’ campaign with almost two-and-a-half years still left in its term. Likely with a view to the 2022 elections, it will backfire as the public becomes more discerning and less easily manipulated than the administration assumes. The durability of the Duterte administration will be tested in 2020. It will […]

Disguised Jobs Crisis

February 4, 2019

Download Briefing Paper here An excerpt from the IBON 2018 Yearend Birdtalk paper “Faltering Economy, Shell of A Democracy”: The socioeconomic conditions of the masses are not substantially or sustainably improving. A few gained from recent economic growth but not the people who need this the most. Domestic elites and foreign capital continue to profit […]

Faltering Economy, Shell of A Democracy

January 28, 2019

Download Briefing Paper here Adverse economic and political trends since the start of the Duterte administration intensified last year. The risk of combustion in 2019 has become much higher. The administration has tried to project an image of economic progress and strongman-driven stability, peace and order. But if the year 2018 has shown anything it […]

Faltering Economy, Shell of a Democracy

January 21, 2019

Yearend Birdtalk 2018 Executive Summary Adverse economic and political trends since the start of the Duterte administration intensified last year. The risk of combustion in 2019 has become much higher. The administration has tried to project an image of economic progress and strongman-driven stability, peace and order. But if the year 2018 has shown anything […]

Save the Date! IBON 2018 Yearend Birdtalk

December 3, 2018

2018 Midyear Birdtalk: Illusory Growth, Emergent Authoritarianism

August 12, 2018

Download here Two years into the Duterte administration, the Philippine economy’s gains are illusory and the political situation is on the brink of accelerated decline. The economy is on borrowed time. There is a limit to how long the government’s infrastructure spending frenzy and hype about sound fundamentals can disguise the problems. Agricultural and industrial […]