Women and Children

Democracy & Governance: Deficit, Surplus, Unfinished Business

State of the PH in 2018:
Catching crooks, averting corruption

WHAT policy and action reforms can enhance and sustain the campaign against crooks and corruption under the Duterte administration?What follows is the speech of Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, Ombudsman of the Republic of the Philippines, at the forum on “Democracy and Governance in the Philippines: Deficit, Surplus, and Unfinished Business” that was organized by the Philippine […]

A PCIJ Primer: Unpacking Federalism

Stats on the state of the regions:
Only half of all Pinoys are voters

WE ARE a nation of more than a hundred million people, but as of 2016, only one in every two Filipinos had registered as voters and could be allowed to participate in elections. If the pitch to shift to a federal system of government gets approved and submitted to a plebiscite, it is only this […]

A PCIJ Primer: Unpacking Federalism

Stats on the state of the regions:
A tricky tug of war for IRA, revenues

ONLY THREE of the proposed 18 federated regions have revenue collections larger than the fund transfers that they are getting from the national government in terms of Internal Revenue Allotment or IRA. The rest of the 15 regions remain largely dependent on their IRA shares to sustain their most basic operations.The three regions with strong […]

A PCIJ Primer: Unpacking Federalism

Stats on the state of the regions:
Hubs of wealth, ponds of poverty

THE POOR abound in this country — Filipinos who cannot earn or raise the minimum income to meet the basic food and non-food requirements. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) clusters them among citizens living below the poverty threshold.Across the nation, the PSA says that some 21.9 million Filipinos, or nearly one in every five, do […]

Project Bangon Marawi, Year 1

DSWD-Region 12 blows a billion pesos
on food packs, various kits for Marawi

NEARLY EVERY month in the last half of 2017, the Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office in Region XII (Central Mindanao) went on a shopping binge and ended up splurging over a billion pesos. It spent the sum — courtesy of taxpayers — on mongo beans, dried fish, canned fruits, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, […]

Project Bangon Marawi, Year 1

A majority of Duterte allies will pick
Marawi’s ground-zero contractor

A SMALL COMMITTEE of seven persons, including four political appointees and associates of President Rodrigo R. Duterte from Davao City and elsewhere in Mindanao, will decide which business entities will win the multi-billion-peso contract for one of the major components of the rehabilitation efforts in Marawi City.Except for three career-service personnel, the other members of […]

Project Bangon Marawi, Year 1

A patchwork of sketchy plans,
loose rules, uncertain funding

THE SIEGE of the Islamic City of Marawi marks its first anniversary on May 23 but its vaunted multi-billion peso rehabilitation and reconstruction program remains a patchwork of disconnected promises mired in multiple problems.The government has pledged to roll out a total of 892 programs, activities, and projects for Marawi under an ambitious “master plan.” […]

Mapping drug-war deaths, cases,
and helping those in need, online

FOR THOSE wanting to see an attempt to paint a nationwide picture of the drug war and all related efforts, this website may be up your alley.A platform mapping the location of death of those reportedly killed because of links to illegal drugs, as well as services, efforts, rehabs, and other information related and created […]

Drug war’s revert to PDEA:
Retreat, without real plan

NO, JUANA, there has not been any big change in tactics in the government’s war against drugs just yet.By all indications, as well as the statements of President Rodrigo R. Duterte himself and his senior advisers, the supposed revert to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) as the “sole agency” assigned to the drug war […]

Public order, safety, and drugs:
Weary, wicked, wretched data

WILL THE NATION see the return of a virulent war on drugs? Nine days after he issued a memorandum placing the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) as the “sole agency” in charge of the drug war, President Rodrigo R. Duterte said at a forum of overseas Filipino workers last Oct. 19: “You have been downgrading […]

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