JICA

The expensive and harmful ‘Build Better More’

June 2, 2023

The Philippine government has a repetitive narrative when it comes to infrastructure – that it will “revitalize the economy” and “create more jobs” or that the government is “Building more for better lives” — claims so-repeated that they seem like obvious benefits. But history shows that this is not always the case.

Heightening China-PH economic relations: friends with benefits?

November 19, 2018

by Rosario Bella Guzman There is a growing concern about the phenomenal increase of Chinese capital flowing into the Philippine economy. China has recently overtaken the US in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and trade. In the first semester of 2018, FDI from China amounted to US$175 million as compared with Japan’s US$154 […]

After five years: Build, Build, Build a new adversary of Yolanda survivors

November 8, 2018

by Jolo Lim IBON Features – Typhoon Yolanda was a disaster of epic proportions. It became an even bigger tragedy because of government neglect and corporate opportunism.  Five years after the super-typhoon, a new adversary is rising for typhoon survivors that are yet to fully recover. The Duterte administration’s Build, Build, Build program has been […]

“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 […]