Features
Part 2: The anomaly of transport modernization
Hunyo 27, 2020
FEATURES
The Duterte government can address the transport crisis in the time of COVID-19 and in fact can look at the pandemic as an opportunity to overhaul the system. The health protocols may be followed indeed if only the government recognizes and addresses the transport crisis in a scientific manner.
The anomaly of transport modernization
Hunyo 26, 2020
FEATURES
If there is anything that COVID-19 has emphasized, it is the fact that the Philippine transport sector is in its worst crisis – a reality that the Duterte administration had repeatedly denied before the pandemic. If the economy has to transition to a genuinely better shape, the government has to address the basic woes of the transport sector. Vice versa, if the mass transport system has to be more efficient, the economy has to be transitioned to a genuinely better one.
PH Debt: All’s well that swells
Hunyo 13, 2020
The finance department underscores the need for government to borrow from foreign sources to fund its economic recovery plan. Multilateral and country creditors have unsurprisingly exploited the situation and recycled funds to lend. But do we really need to borrow for COVID-19 response? How are we going to pay for all of these debts?
Anti-terror law worsens economic policymaking for a few at the expense of the many
Hunyo 8, 2020
STATEMENT | The Duterte administration wants an anti-terrorism law giving it unchecked power to surveil, harass, arrest and detain government critics under the pretext of fighting terrorism. It has been on a trajectory of violating human rights, due process, rule of law, and accountability since the start of its term. With the new law, the government will achieve authoritarianism unmatched since Martial Law in the 1970s.
Statement on government’s COVID-19 stimulus measures
Mayo 30, 2020
STATEMENT
Fiscal decisions are critical especially in times of crisis – when the need is greatest for the State to commit to its obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the social and economic rights of the people.
Upon COVID-19: Time to tax the super-rich
Mayo 25, 2020
FEATURES
The Philippines has never had a wealth tax. For as long as there has been a tax system in the country, taxes have been collected from what people pay for what they consume or from what they earn.
Why make the poor pay for COVID-19 response?
Mayo 24, 2020
COMMENTARY
There’s more than enough money for all the COVID-19 response we need – the Duterte administration just has to take the side of the people and stop being so scared of the rich.
Financial strength, development weakness
Mayo 14, 2020
COMMENTARY
In this kind of situation, you don’t obsess about fuel-efficient driving or not red-lining the tachometer or limiting the car’s mileage – you step on the gas. Glorifying ‘financial strength’ is stepping on the brakes.
Why can’t food self-sufficiency be our new normal?
Mayo 8, 2020
FEATURES
From the outset of the Duterte government’s military lockdown as its response to the spread of the coronavirus, it has directed the continuous flow of food commodities, along with medicines and other essentials. Food is inarguably essential to people’s survival during a pandemic and in its socioeconomic aftermath.
