After its triumphant run at the 2026 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, the award-winning political drama “2 Valid IDs,” directed by Ma-an Asuncion-Dagñalan and written by Abet Pagdagdagan Raz, is taking its deeply human message for its international premiere at the 46th Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF). Selected for the festival’s Panorama section and nominated...
Tag: inequality
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Amid extreme inequalities, 306 million Southeast Asians languish in poverty and low incomes
Southeast Asians classified as poor and low-income shared a high 44.7% of the region’s population, or 306 million of a total of 686 million. Social inequalities are similarly endemic in Southeast Asia, as reflected in the distribution of incomes across seven categories—poor, low income, lower middle, middle, upper middle, upper income and rich (see Table...
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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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The dimensions of inequality in the Philippines, by the numbers
Throughout Asia, the Philippines conspicuously stands out when it comes to social and economic inequalities. The latest World Bank calculations place the Philippines at the highest level of inequality in the region (see Table 1). In a grouping of 27 Asian countries monitored by the World Bank, the Philippines ranks No. 1 in inequality with...
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The greatest source of economic and social inequality
Holding title to property is the greatest source of economic and social inequality. Holding no title of any kind, whether to property or to social or academic standing, is a sure indication of being on the fringes, a ticket to poverty. Being king or emperor, or general or president, or doctor or attorney or engineer—titles...
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Tax the rich: 9 reasons for a wealth tax
Rising inequality has been an inescapable phenomenon of global economic development over the past 200 years. Per the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, growing inequality affects 70% of the global population and threatens “long-term social and economic development, [harming] poverty reduction and [destroying] people’s sense of fulfillment and self-worth,” all of which “can breed crime,...