From the outset of the Duterte government’s military lockdown as its response to the spread of the coronavirus, it has directed the continuous flow of food commodities, along with medicines and other essentials. Food is inarguably essential to people’s survival during a pandemic and in its socioeconomic aftermath. Government’s response however has fallen short in…
We, members of the Educators’ Forum for Development, express our strong indignation at the shutdown of ABS-CBN media corporation by the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) issuance of a cease and desist order. The broadcasting network has gone off-the-air starting May 5th for the first time since Martial Law, and this has brought deep concerns about…
The Philippine economy was already weak coming into the COVID-19 crisis, research group IBON said. Growth will remain slow if the government does not acknowledge pre-existing weaknesses that the pandemic merely intensified. The group said that recognizing the problem is the first step to the bold measures needed for long-term growth and development. The Philippine…
The COVID-19 lockdown and further containment measures are drastically slowing down economic activity in the Philippines and elsewhere. The government sees the Build, Build, Build (BBB) program as jumpstarting the Philippine economy in the time of the pandemic. But with its current neoliberal framework, will BBB be enough? Even before COVID-19, multilateral funding institutions like the World…
With the cease and desist order of the National Telecommunications Company (NTC) on the operations of ABS-CBN, the Duterte administration is exploiting the COVID-19 crisis to advance its authoritarian agenda and consolidate its hold on power. The government is using the repressive atmosphere of the military lockdown to further narrow political space in the country….
Research group IBON said that 97% of 11.4 million served beneficiaries are barely surviving the lockdown with cash aid that is way below the official poverty line. Meanwhile, 37% of 18 million low-income households are still waiting to receive social amelioration after seven weeks of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). The group said that, already so…
Research group IBON said that raising taxes on imported oil products will push prices up and burden many poor households already struggling with jobs and income losses amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The group said that government should instead look to better sources of response funds such as taxing the super-rich. The Duterte administration recently issued…