Women and Children

PCIJ Audit: Candidates for Senator on SM

2 worlds, 2 realities? They rank high
in surveys, but not on social media

IT’S ALREADY a given how Filipinos are such big users of social media, especially Facebook. Last February, PCIJ conducted a social-media audit of what some senatorial candidates in the May 13, 2019 midterm polls were doing online during the pre-campaign period and found that they regarded these as a ‘promotional touchpoint”.This hasn’t changed much, based […]

Inside a Chinese gambling entity:
What happens, who works, how?

In the bustling offshore gambling industry in the Philippines today, a conservative estimate of 100,000 people work. About 90 percent of them are mainland Chinese. In this interview, a Chinese customer service worker talks about how and why they came to the Philippines; their living and working conditions; incidents of misbehavior; and how the shops […]

Where is China money going? Gambling,
real estate, tours, big cities big winners

The biggest recipient of Chinese foreign direct investments in the Philippines these days is the online or offshore gambling industry. Since Duterte assumed the presidency, real-estate companies, tours, hotels, and entertainment, as well as services across Metro Manila, Cebu, and the major cities have drawn the bulk of Chinese FDIs, after wholesale and retail. THE […]

The ABC’s of Chinese State-Backed
Finance, Foreign Direct Investments

WHEN PROVIDING Official Development Assistance or ODA, Western donors typically require the recipient states to adhere to international political norms, such as the ratification of human rights, fiscal austerity, bank secrecy laws, and environmental standards. For the World Bank or Asian Development Bank, these include the implementation of market-based mechanisms, macroeconomic reforms, and removal of […]

China Money: How the Numbers Differ

RICHARD JAVAD Heydarian, a resident commentator of GMA Network, has repeatedly pointed out that China has fooled the Philippines into giving up the South China Sea in exchange for unrealized capital. In numerous articles published across popular venues, Heydarian draws his conclusions based upon the Philippine Statistical Authority’s (PSA) data, which only shows aggregated committed […]

INDONESIA: More of the Same Isn’t Good

THE YEAR 2019 marks the second decade of Indonesian media’s reform era. Although strongman Soeharto stepped down as president of Indonesia in 1998, it was only in 1999 that reforms began in the country’s media industry, with the passage of the landmark Press Law (Law No. 40 of 1999) on 23 September that year.Twenty years […]

TIMOR-LESTE: Still Feeling Pressed

TIMOR LESTE’S ranking in the latest press-freedom index of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) leaped by 11 places from the previous year, but those on the ground do not feel any improvement in the country’s media conditions.Indeed, in January 2019 alone, there were already at least three cases of press intimidation and interference reported by the […]

VIETNAM: The Net as the New ‘Battlefield’

IT WOULD be almost impossible to discuss media freedom in Vietnam without first reviewing the country’s political situation over the past year. The unique Communist one-party system, combined with a socialist-style free market economy, has created a narrow window of opportunity for non-state and independent media to grow over the years, despite state censorship. For […]

CAMBODIA: Suppression via Legislation

IN 2018 and early 2019, media freedom and the right to free expression came under sustained pressure in the Kingdom of Cambodia. In the past year, the Royal Government of Cambodia adopted several pieces of new legislation that restrict the right to free expression. These new laws have had a chilling effect on the exercise […]

SINGAPORE: Cyberspace Headed for More Control

SINGAPORE’S media industry has long been tightly controlled by the government. This is unlikely to change in 2019; in fact, new legislation is expected that could further curb press freedom and freedom of expression.In January 2018, Parliament convened a Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods to hold public consultations and gather feedback on how to […]

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