Features
Latest poverty measure: excluding the poor from the poverty count
Hulyo 31, 2012
IBON Features | 31 July 2012 | The Philippines seemed closer to reaching the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing poverty by half than if the old poverty methodology were used IBON Features—At 10 p.m., Aling Teresing, a mother in her mid-40s together with her 18-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son begin flattening scrap boxes to […]
SONA 2012: Reporting housekeeping and half-truths
Hulyo 22, 2012
IBON Features | By Sonny Africa | The 2012 SONA was selective in the data it presented and dealt in half-truths, A few stand out for the misleading picture of the economy that they seek to create. IBON Features— State of the nation addresses (SONAs) are typically exercises in political advertising rather than government road […]
Exclusionary Economics: How Aquino and Arroyo economics are the same
Hulyo 22, 2012
IBON Features | COMMENTARY | The reality behind the so-called gains must however be assessed before concluding that the Aquino administration has indeed been the much-sought change following former Pres. Arroyo’s legacy of corruption IBON Features— In his upcoming third State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Benigno Aquino III will surely attempt to highlight […]
Conditional Cash Transfers, from beneficiaries’ view
Hunyo 23, 2012
IBON FEATURES | Below are a few anecdotal evidence that, although illustrative and rich, does not replace a comprehensive assessment that a program of this size requires. Stories from CCT communities give us a picture that is different from how government describes the positive impact of its anti-poverty program IBON Features— The Department of Social […]
Green economy and the road to Rio
Hunyo 14, 2012
IBON Features | By Rosario Bella Guzman | The proposed ‘Road to Rio’ still looks at nature, people and their products as capital that must be used in the most efficient manner for profit accumulation IBON Features—Hundreds of heads of states are expected to attend the Earth Summit on June 20 to 22, back in […]
PH education: shortage of solutions?
Enero 14, 2012
Reducing state support for education and increasing private sector participation remain the administration’s solutions to the country’s education woes IBON Features— Nine-year old Hilary is an incoming grade four pupil. Every day, she does regular rounds among houses near their community in Quezon City to gather “kalakal”, or pieces of scrap, plastic, and metal to […]
Economic lessons from 2011
Disyembre 30, 2011
IBON FEATURES | By Sonny Africa | 2011 gives us insights to inform economic policy-making not just in 2012 but in the coming period of great challenges for Philippine growth IBON Features—The Philippines slipped into another economic downturn in 2011. Adverse global trends are a factor with the world economy three years into what is […]
No new solutions for the crisis, G20 countries in a fix
Nobyembre 7, 2011
IBON Features | 7 November 2011 | The slow recovery highlights the urgency for policies that are directed in strengthening domestic economies IBON Features— Heads of states of largest and developing nations gathered last week for the Group of 20 (G20) Summit but failed to come up with concrete plans to manage what the International […]
CCTs: expensive, short-sighted and artificial
Setyembre 13, 2011
The Aquino administration seeks a bigger budget for a program that is criticized as a poor cornerstone in the drive against poverty | By Sonny Africa IBON Features — The Aquino administration is currently seeking an 86%-budget increase for its multi-billion peso conditional cash transfer (CCT) program. But while the program admittedly has a feel-good […]
