Street protests against corruption on Sept. 21 will culminate in a grand rally at the People Power Monument in the hope of reliving the “Edsa spirit” that led to the ouster of strongman Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. But the goal is to hold erring officials accountable, not to topple President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the late...
Category: News
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Marcos names ex-SC justice Andres Reyes as flood control probe chair, vows no one will be spared
Not even his cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez or his political allies will be spared in the inquiry of the Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI) into corruption in multibillion-peso flood control projects, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday as he appointed former Supreme Court associate justice Andres Reyes as its chair. With Reyes’ appointment, the...
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Marcos taps Singson, Magalong, CPA for the Independent Commission on Infrastructure
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed former public works secretary Rogelio “Babes” Singson, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, and seasoned accountant Rossana Fajardo to the independent commission tasked with investigating anomalies in the government’s multibillion-peso flood control and other infrastructure projects. He is expected to announce the commission’s chair in the coming days. Palace press...
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Name, shame, prosecute: Lacson plumbs the ‘national sewer of corrupted flood control projects’
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson has linked recently resigned public works secretary Manuel Bonoan to a government contractor of multibillion-peso flood control projects in Bulacan, a province that, he said, “has proven to be the national sewer of corrupted flood control projects.” Delivering on Tuesday the second part of his privilege speech titled “Flooded Gates...
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The unrest in Indonesia is driven by inequalities and entrenched oligarchic rule
Indonesia has been ravaged by its worst popular unrest since the downfall of the dictator Suharto in 1998. Large-scale street protests began last Aug. 25 in the capital Jakarta—the culmination of widespread economic frustration and anger at widespread corruption, democratic regression, gross inequalities, and the indifference and lack of empathy of Indonesia’s leaders, elite classes...
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Escudero loses Senate presidency to Sotto as scandal over multibillion-peso flood projects rages
Francis Escudero lost the Senate presidency to Vicente Sotto III on Monday, just over a month after his reelection to the post—a sign that senators are listening to public opinion, according to a political analyst. The change in leadership in the Senate occurred in the face of growing public anger over the government’s multibillion-peso flood...
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The employment impact of a national ban on single-use plastic will be manageable
Negotiations for an international plastics treaty ended in failure last month, setting the stage for a new round of talks. Nevertheless, local environmental groups argue that no deal is better than a bad one or a watered-down treaty. An agreement could have nudged the Philippine government to finally enact a national ban on single-use plastic...
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Ex-police intelligence officer is convicted in Duterte-era drug war killing
Nearly a decade after the deed, a police intelligence officer in then President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration has been convicted of homicide for the death of a drug suspect in Baguio City in July 2016. It is only the fifth known conviction related to Duterte’s “war on drugs” that has resulted in the extrajudicial killing (EJK)...
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House begins ‘evidence-based’ inquiry into corruption in flood control projects
The House of Representatives’ “tricommittee” begins today its own inquiry into questionable flood control projects, with the objective of “completing the story” behind those deemed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as “ghost” and substandard projects. Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon, chair of the House committee on public accounts, said he and his colleagues would start with...
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Marcos ready for lifestyle check and release of SALN, but analysts say genuine reforms necessary to address corruption
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is prepared to undergo a lifestyle check, including the release of his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN), but political analysts said such a move must be paired with genuine reforms and must also address the corruption issues that attended his father and namesake’s strongman rule. “All members of...