Philippine economy
Malacañang’s enthusiasm on credit rating upgrade unwarranted-IBON
May 4, 2019
IBON executive director Sonny Africa said that the recent credit rating upgrade is not a sign of economic progress and that Malacañang’s enthusiasm is greatly unwarranted. The credit rating upgrade is most of all an assessment of the government’s ability to repay debt and not of economic development. There would be no such upgrade if […]
Sustainable development: a call to respect human rights
April 23, 2019
IBON Facts & Figures: “Alternative to Power Privatization” [Excerpt]
April 18, 2019
Amid power interruptions because of combined forced power outages due to maintainance and various power plants’ system problems, we share the introduction of the December 2014 IBON Facts & Figures issue titled “Alternative to Power Privatization”: “When the Philippine government privatized the electric power sector in 2001, it promised cheaper and sustainable supply of energy […]
Don’t insist on low poverty threshold, address jobs crisis, gov’t told
April 17, 2019
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) recently attributed reduced poverty in the first semester of 2018 to the rising quality of jobs under the Duterte administration. But research group IBON said that dismal jobs creation, the magnitude of joblessness, poor quality work, and meager wages give away the true picture of Philippine poverty. The […]
Family living wage for a family of five members in NCR
April 14, 2019
“The choice of official poverty lines is a political one. Setting a high standard indicates the government having a high level of ambition for poverty eradication. Government, however has chosen to set a low standard – in this case, the Php10,481 per month or Php69.87 per day poverty threshold – which results in tens of […]
What the Rice Tariffication Law violates
April 10, 2019
The declared policy of the newly signed Republic Act (RA) 11203 or Rice Tariffication Law, now with issued implementing rules and regulations, is apparently to ensure food security. Ironically, it is the very same principle that the law puts at risk. Food security is a precondition for economic development. A hungry population is a weak, […]
Return water services to public control
March 31, 2019
Metro Manila has third most expensive water in region
March 31, 2019
