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107 Scout de Guia St.
Quezon City 1104
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Tel: (632) 4104768/9
9293117
Fax: (632) 9293571
Email: pcij@pcij.org
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BEAUTIFICATION IN A TIME OF CRISIS?
House Facelift to Cost Taxpayers P1 Billion; Fund Source a Puzzle
by TITA C. VADLERAMA
Romulo Neri's designation as head of the Social Security System drew a mix of surprise, criticism and revulsion. Going by his performance record as NEDA chief as seen by his deputies, staff personnel and other informed sources, the public reaction may just be appropriate.
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South wing of the House of Representatives
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THE 14TH Congress will open its second regular session on Monday with a spit-polished image, amid massive renovation efforts for the Marcos-era Batasang Pambansa building, home to the House of Representatives.
Largely cosmetic, the frenzied makeover has secured an initial funding of P200 million from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, but once completed will cost taxpayers almost a billion pesos.
SEE
ALSO:
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Arroyo Allies Linked to 'Garci' Behind Mystery Firm in Pagcor 'Tourism City'
by
Malou Mangahas and Tita C. Valderama THIS
two-part report, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) uncovers the mysterious and muddled ownership interests behind Bloombury, and gaps in Pagcor's decision to enroll it as an investor in “Tourism City.”
SEE
ALSO:
DESPITE PROTECTED AREA STATUS
Illegal Fish Cage Operations Poison Taal Lake
by
Marlon Alexander Luistro ASIDE
from being an eyesore, the unregulated fish cage operations at the world-famous Taal Lake are killing this declared protected area.
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Maguindanao, RP Fall Behind Key Indicators for Education
by
Jaileen F. Jimeno THE
Arroyo administration is falling behind all key indicators of progress in a most strategic Millennium Development Goal: education. In faraway Maguindanao, for instance, more children are failing to enroll and stay in school, and the ratio of students to teachers, classrooms and books is getting worse.
WHEN POLITICS POLLUTES CIVIL SERVICE
New CSC Chief Faces Pack of Ineligible Bureaucrats
by
Isa Lorenzo and Malou Mangahas THE
appointment of Cabinet secretary Ricardo Saludo as chair of the Civil Service Commission signals the virtual capture by political appointees of senior government positions previously reserved for career service personnel.
SEE
ALSO:
THE
PERILS AND PITFALLS OF AID
ODA Surge Sparks Scandals for Arroyo, Debt Woes for RP
by
Roel R. Landingin THIS
three-part series caps a six-month review by the PCIJ of project
and official documents covering 71 ODA projects funded by the Philippines
biggest ODA lenders. Part 1 looks at how the National Economic and
Development Authority (NEDA) and its project evaluation process
have been weakened and violated by pressure from lobbyists and political
sponsors of some projects.
SEE
ALSO:
Price-Control-Board Debate May Delay Cheap Drugs Law
by
Alecks P. Pabico
AFTER
almost a decade, a bill seeking to ensure access to affordable,
quality medicines by majority of poor Filipinos is on the verge
of finally becoming a law. But unless the matter devolves into one
of political expediency, contentious issues between the House and
Senate versions of the bill could delay its immediate passage.
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Online
Edition
PUBLIC EYE
Romulo L. Neri: Can Golf, Realpolitik Work at SSS?
by
Alecks P. Pabico
Romulo Neri's designation as head of the Social Security System drew a mix of surprise, criticism and revulsion. Going by his performance record as NEDA chief as seen by his deputies, staff personnel and other informed sources, the public reaction could just be appropriate.
PUBLIC EYE
Arroyo Fails COA Audit: Fairness of Presidency's Books 'Doubtful'
by
Malou Mangahas
The Arroyo government has repeatedly called for belt-tightening, on both the private and public sector. But the latest Commission on Audit report on the Office of the President reveals the seat of power itself has not been judicious in its use of taxpayers' money.
PUBLIC EYE
No Cure for Costly Medicines? Draft Law Affirms Patent Rights of Drug Firms
by
Alecks P. Pabico
Some legal experts fear that despite its promise of affordable medicines, the recently ratified law would face difficulties in its implementation, in large part because pharmaceutical companies could take advantage of the loopholes in the patent-related amendments.
SEE ALSO:
2015 OR BUST?
Naga City's Class Act
by
Alecks P. Pabico
BICOL'S model city is trying its best to address its 'weakest link' in achieving the Millennium Development Goals: keeping schoolchildren in class to complete elementary education.
OTHER
FEATURE:
FIRST PERSON
Still Reeling from Military Junta, Burma a Mess After Cyclone
by
Tita Valderama
Tita Valderama was in Burma as a fellow of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance when cyclone Nagris battered Yangon (Rangoon), its former capital, last weekend and left thousands of Burmese dead.
PERSPECTIVE
An Absolute Privilege
by
Nepomuceno Malaluan
Former socioeconomic planning secretary Romulo Neri scored a legal victory when the Supreme Court said the Senate could not compel him to answer three questions that it found to be covered by executive privilege. But transparency advocates say the public may end up the loser should that decision become final.
PERSPECTIVE
Executive Privilege Versus Public Interest
by
Nepomuceno Malaluan
Executive privilege has
become a bogey of sorts for those who want to scrutinize government
projects and programs.
HIMIG PINOY
The Business of Making Music
by
Prime Sarmiento
In the face of an increasingly complicated market and the rise of piracy, the local recording industry, while still alive, is not exactly doing very well.
OTHER
FEATURES:
MAD OVER MONEY
Enhancing the 'Electronic' in E-commerce
by
Alecks P. Pabico
E-commerce insiders and observers are saying that 2008 may yet become
the turnaround year for the Philippine online economy.
OTHER
FEATURES:
PUBLIC EYE
From Newshound to News Target
by
Jaileen F. Jimeno
HE used to cover politics when he was a newsman, but today politician
Ben Evardone, who is now on his second term as governor of Eastern
Samar, has become the news.
PUBLIC EYE
No Coming-Out Party for PLLO
by
Jaileen F. Jimeno
IT has never had any need for publicity, and that remains true to
this day. But recently the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office
(PLLO) has come under the spotlight as two of its undersecretaries
were implicated in the alleged Palace payoffs scandal.
PUBLIC
EYE
Has NEDA Gone Nada?
by
Alecks P. Pabico
ONCE powerful and influential, the National Economic and Development
Authority has been driven to its "lowest point" today in the wake
of the national broadband deal fiasco.
POWER
AND POISONS
Toxins 'R' Us
by
Kenneth Hartigan-Go
TOXIC substances are all around us. And as the world becomes more
complex, humans have become part of the reason why new forms of
poisoning are emerging at an ever-increasing pace.
OTHER
FEATURES:
CROSSBORDER
Perils of the Press
by
Joseph Israel M. Laban
They are part of the world’s youngest democracy, but members of
East Timor’s media now know that does not guarantee the full freedom
to do their job.
The Price of Peace
by
Joseph Israel M. Laban
Many ordinary East Timorese are pessimistic about what the final report
of the Commission on Truth and Friendship may contain, partly because
throughout Southeast Asia, victims of large-scale atrocities committed
or ordered by those in power rarely (if at all) obtain justice.
THE
ESTRADA TRIAL
Guilty! But Special Concessions for Accused Show Flawed System
by
Karen Tiongson-Mayrina
NOW that the Sandiganbayan has declared former President Joseph Estrada
guilty of plunder but acquitted him of perjury charges, the PCIJ looks
back at the trial that lasted six long years.
OTHER
FEATURES:
PREVIOUS
ISSUES
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A politician at the helm of NEDA
WILL this be the end of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) as we know it?
SC RULING ON JPEPA
Shackled by 'entropy of the old tradition of secrecy'
“WE must overcome the entropy of the old tradition of secrecy,” counseled Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno in his lengthy argument on the petition to have the government disclose details of the negotiations between the Philippines and Japan in relation to the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). Obviously, it was an advice that went largely unheeded as majority of his colleagues upheld for a second time the Arroyo government’s invocation of executive privilege.
PRE-SONA 2008
As inflation soars and peso slips, will Arroyo tweak 2009 budget?
WITH the rates of inflation, foreign exchange and interest going haywire, preparing the government’s budget proposal for 2009 must be giving some people in Malacañang terrible migraine attacks these days.
Low investment in education consigns millions to illiteracy
THE beauty of using percentages is that it hides what is absolutely ugly.
Take the 2006-2007 net enrolment ratio (NER) data released by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB). The agency reports that the NER dropped to 83.2 percent last year, down from 84.4 in 2005-2006.
Arroyo urged to adopt coherent national population policy
WHEN leaders of various international and local groups gathered to observe World Population Day in Mandaluyong City on Friday, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was noticeably absent.
Still a jobless-growth economy
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s “Ramdam ang Kaunlaran” slogan to trumpet the apparent economic gains from last year’s 7.3 GDP growth rate is turning out to be nothing but empty rhetoric amid a food supply crisis and the almost weekly oil price increases that have jacked up the cost of basic commodities beyond reach of ordinary Filipinos.
IMAGE SLIDESHOW
Rehabilitating Panay
TWO weeks after typhoon Frank’s fury turned much of Western Visayas into a diluvian waterworld, the rehabilitation of the region has all the more become imperative.
Of neoconservatives and neoliberals: U.S. foreign policy in post-Bush America
THAT the eight-year presidency of George W. Bush is finally coming to an end may be comforting a thought to many in light of elections in the United States to choose a new president this coming November. But the choices of American voters, having since been narrowed down to John McCain, the Republican Party nominee, and Barack Obama, the Democratic Party nominee, are hardly offering the rest of the world much hope in terms of any fundamental change in U.S. foreign policy.
Sulpicio Lines and maritime safety: An often woeful, tragic tale
TWENTY one years since the sinking of the M/V Doña Paz between Mindoro and Marinduque after colliding with an oil tanker, considered as the world’s worst ferry disaster and the worst peace-time maritime disaster in history, it would seem that implementing safety standards at sea in the Philippines continues to be spotty and beset with problems.
Staying alive
NO story is worth a journalist’s life.
This ABS-CBN broadcast journalist Cecilia ‘Ces’ Drilon has painfully learned from her 10-day ordeal as a captive of the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu. Presented to the media at yesterday’s press conference following her release, a remorseful Drilon blamed herself for endangering not only her life but those of her companions — cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion, Angelo Valderama, and Mindanao State University professor Octavio Dinampo — in pursuit of a story on the current leadership of the bandit group.
Bolante deportation looms
THE prospects of being deported to the Philippines loomed large for former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn ‘Joc-Joc’ Bolante after the Board of Immigration Appeals in Chicago denied his claim for asylum and withholding of removal from the U.S. under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in June last year.
GLORIA'S SPENDING SPREE
Travel, 'donations' top Palace expenses
IN 2007, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s presidency spent a total of P249.5 million to pay the salaries and wages of its regular employees; and P10.7 million to pay casual and contractual employees.
NBN-ZTE
SCANDAL
Lacaba: Keep the NBN-ZTE issue alive
FOR poet and YES! magazine executive editor Jose ‘Pete’ Lacaba, the national broadband network (NBN) scandal had reached an early saturation point. Thus, he stresses that while no Senate hearing currently air, it is important to “keep the issues alive.”
SEE
ALSO:
Alternative
planting method key to rice self-sufficiency
EVEN as the government continues to insist that there is no rice
supply shortage but only an abnormal increase in the price of
the staple owing to soaring world market prices of commodities,
the fact is the country is not 100-percent self-sufficient in
rice.
SPRATLYS DEAL
Selling out Philippine sovereignty?
IF the tripartite agreement entered into by the Philippines with China and Vietnam to conduct a joint marine seismic undertaking (JMSU) in the disputed territories of the Spratly Islands is currently mired in controversy, the Arroyo government has only itself to blame.
SEE
ALSO:
MORE AT
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Podcasting from the Philippines
A MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION
READ THE i REPORT ARTICLES.
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TO THE PODCASTS:
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Newsbreak, PCIJ stories win in 2008 JVO awards
IN-DEPTH stories on governance and corruption, human rights, and environment won in the 19th Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism (JVOAEJ) held yesterday at the Asian Institute of Management.
Roel Landingin’s “The Battle for Manila’s Gateway,” published in the September to December 2007 issue of Newsbreak, was named best in investigative and explanatory reporting. The story examined the account of events surrounding the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) 3 - Philippine International Air Terminal Co. (PIATCO) controversy.
Another Newsbreak story, “Trapped in a Web of Lives” by Glenda Gloria, published last December 2007 to February 2008, also won the grand prize. It was cited as “a comprehensive, well-researched and compelling story” on the disappearance of Jonas Burgos, which emphasized the need to address the problem of human rights violation.
Landingin, also a fellow of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and Gloria both received plaques of distinction, P70,000 cash prize each, and the Australian Ambassador’s Award from the Australian Embassy and the Marshall McLuhan Prize from the Canadian Embassy, respectively.
Another PCIJ fellow, Prime Sarmiento, also received a citation for her story “What’s Swimming In Your Soup?” which delved into the country’s continuing lack of proper drainage systems. She received a plaque of merit and a cash prize of P25,000.
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PCIJ
Training Schedule
BELOW is the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism's
(PCIJ) training schedule for the second half of 2008:
- August 4-7
— Investigative Journalism for Visayas Journalists
- October
— Investigative Journalism for Journalism Educators
The courses are by-invitation only. But if you wish to be
considered for future PCIJ trainings, kindly email
us your brief resumé and sample stories. |
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News for Sale
THIS book probes how corruption and commerce (or the pressure
to rate or sell) have shaped media coverage of what is supposed
to be the pivotal event in our democracy — elections. In a
continuation of her groundbreaking-exposé on the ways in which
journalism is corrupted by bribes and other inducements, Chay
Florentino-Hofileña examines the new forms of media corruption
that have emerged in the 2004 elections.
The Rulemakers
THIS book tells the story of the Philippine legislature by
examining the men and women who make up that body. It looks
at their demographic characteristics (age, gender, education,
profession), their assets and sources of wealth, and also
their family lineage.
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