Duterte administration
First quarter of TRAIN: A preview of the worse to come for the poor
April 20, 2018
Nanay Inday joins the many ordinary folk in bearing the brunt of price hikes upon the January 2018 implementation of the first package of the Duterte administration’s Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN). A resident of the urban poor community in San Roque North Triangle, she laments that there are no longer Php5.00 bundles […]
Filipino workers’ plight continues
April 16, 2018
As International Workers’ Day approaches, many Filipino workers still endure poor quality jobs that lack benefits, are low-paying, insecure and under unfavorable working conditions. Those workers who attempt to assert their labor rights face repressive measures such as losing their jobs, violent strike dispersals, and other rights violations. The Duterte administration’s pursuit and implementation of […]
What You Need to Know About Charter Change and its Possible Effects on the Education Sector
April 4, 2018
By Jose Lorenzo Lim (In a series of articles, IBON tackles proposals to amend the 1987 Philippine Constitution*, focusing on social and economic provisions. These touch on agrarian reform for industrialization, and full foreign ownership and control of Philippine lands and natural resources including agricultural lands, public utilities, labor rights, educational institutions and mass media. […]
Less land for food
March 30, 2018
While foreign land grabbing intensifies across the globe, the concentration of Philippine agricultural lands in the hands of oligarchs amid sham land distribution is becoming even more rampant, depriving the tillers of the fruits of the land they made productive, and threatening the country’s food security.
Book: Guns Against Needles
March 25, 2018
“Communities are organizing themselves to form committees on health and sanitation, livelihood, and sustainable agriculture to provide social and economic services where government is absent or wanting. But State forces have often linked these development efforts to insurgency and anti-government actions thus have targeted them in counterinsurgency operations. Military operations have not only resulted in […]
Book: Mining Ills
March 17, 2018
The book Mining Ills probes violations on social determinants of health in a number of Philippine communities upon the entry of mining companies, most of which are transnational corporations (TNCs).
Slow internet speed
March 16, 2018
In Asia Pacific, the Philippines has the second slowest average connection speed and the third slowest average peak connection speed. To illustrate, the Internet speed in South Korea is more than seven times the average Internet speed in the Philipines. Singapore’s peak connection speed is five times the Philippine Average. #BetterDigitalWorld Read: http://bit.ly/2Gwe13g
PH telecoms: Towards greater foreign control (IBON Facts & Figures excerpt)
March 15, 2018
Government should play a central role in the telecoms industry through nationalization and reversal of privatization, deregulation, and liberalization of the sector. Basic principles may include but are not limited to ensuring telecoms services with affordable rates for the working people, including free Internet, and that serves the needs of national economic development; promoting public […]
Highest unemployment in ASEAN
March 12, 2018
Latest data shows that the number of employed Filipinos fell by 663,000 to 40.3 million in 2017 from the year before and the number of unemployed rose by 66,000 to 4.1 million. The unemployment rate has also risen to some 9.2% and remains by far the highest in ASEAN.