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A lens for reading this never-ending current of events under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo |
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Written by Jude Esguerra and Frances T.C. Lo
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Friday, 16 May 2008 |
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In the Philippines patronage politics at the top and patronage practices on the ground reinforce each other. Rival national politicians at the apex, one after the other, manage to pursue rent-seeking behavior on a grand scale and with seeming impunity because they are able to escape accountability. These incumbents of the executive branch of government are able escape accountability through the support of their political allies in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The president’s legislative allies in turn rely on the political machineries of governors and mayors – whose survival turns on the periodic greasing of political organizations, which have been methodically built by cultivating relationships of dependency at the community level. The currency of these relationships of political dependency are pork barrel funds from the center, money from corruption, illicit activity, feudal agricultural ties and patronage-based employment in the public service. |
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Critiquing the direct subsidy program: let us ask the right questions |
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Written by Lani C. Villanueva
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Thursday, 15 May 2008 |
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Last week, as food riots and protests break out across the globe as a result of increasing rice prices that have left poor countries facing their worst food shortages, newspapers in the Philippines carried statements slamming a government program that gives direct subsidy to the poor -- statements which left a bad taste in the mouth and revealed a shortage of good sense and compassion from those who profess to work for the poor. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 15 May 2008 )
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Aling Pamilyang Pinoy? Conditional Cash-Transfer and Identifying the Poor |
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Written by Nikkin Beronilla
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Tuesday, 13 May 2008 |
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The 5 billion pesos aid to the poorest of the poor would achieve nothing in reducing poverty. That is the prediction of the critics of the Ahon Pamilyang Pinoy (APP) program. For them, the short term effect of the program is to rescue the President’s sinking approval rating, while the long term effect makes the beneficiaries lazy. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 13 May 2008 )
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