Posted in Vantage Point on November 30th, 2002 No Comments »
Justice Secretary Hernando Perez—and the entire Arroyo administration—may think that it’s all over.
They are mistaken. The flap over the “million-dollar man” is likely to have repercussions in 2004 and the fortunes of the Arroyo administration. It also adds to the general erosion of faith in the capacity not only of this government but of all other Philippine governments to ever really be accountable to the people that put them in power.
»
Posted in Vantage Point on November 30th, 2002 No Comments »
Malacañang has denied that plans are afoot to revamp the Arroyo Cabinet. Other sources say otherwise.
A report from a Manila newspaper quoted an unnamed source for the information.
»
Posted in Vantage Point on November 10th, 2002 No Comments »
Both houses of Congress have passed an absentee voting bill, which means that Filipinos abroad, or at least some of them, are assured of voting, at least in the elections of 2004.
Twelve provisions in the House and Senate versions, however, are in conflict. How these conflicts are resolved or reconciled if possible will decide a number of issues critical to future Philippine elections.
»
Posted in Vantage Point on November 4th, 2002 No Comments »
The Arroyo administration has not tired of saying that it wants negotiations with the National Democratic Front (NDF) to continue. The Armed Forces of the Philippines, of which it is supposed to have command, on the other hand, has repeatedly vowed to crush the NDF’s New People’s Army.
Those puzzled by the seeming contradiction between one and the other need not be. Both statements reflect a cohesive strategy to put an end to the 33-year-old armed struggle the Communist Party of the Philippines has been waging since 1969, when the New People’s Army was founded.
»
Posted in Vantage Point on November 3rd, 2002 No Comments »
The press freedom watchdog group Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF - Reporters Without Borders) released on October 26 its worldwide index of countries ranked according to respect for press freedom. The index did not put the Philippines at the top of its list, as many Filipinos would have expected, but near the bottom, with countries where press freedom is least under serious challenge.
The Paris-based group ranked the Philippines 89th among 139 countries, together with Africa’s Morocco and Swaziland. In Asia, the Philippines was outranked by Hong Kong (18th), Japan (26th), Taiwan (35th), Sri Lanka (51st), Indonesia (57th), Thailand (65th), Cambodia (71st) and India (80th).
»