We beg to differ.
Members of Philippine Congress are proving yet again that they will not be divested of billions of pesos in “discretionary” funds without putting up a fight. The most recent sleight of hand is coming in the form of “realignments” of some senators’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations. According to Neal Cruz in his Inquirer.net…
President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III in his usual form again tried to play down the absolute impropriety with which his government is managing the funds associated with his Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) by reportedly pointing out that those who had brought attention to its use were motivated by the flak they’ve been getting as…
These are confusing times for would-be protesters. Everyone, it seems, is in agreement over the need to scrap the pork barrel gravy train that, for many politicians, has become the whole point of vying for a seat in Congress. Trouble is there are too many “experts” on what, where, when, and how protest rallies should…
Certain advocates of “constitutional reform” make use of two cornerstone arguments to support their position that a change in form of government will necessarily translate to an improved probability that the Philippines will prosper as a society over a given period: (a) a correlation between systems of government and evidence of prosperity in today’s nations,…
Read More “Change in system of governance equals prosperity? Think again” »
The ongoing conflict between the DILG and Governor Gwen Garcia of Cebu has highlighted one of the fundamental problems we have in our system of government: too much centralization. Here you have a sitting governor (who is to end her term in six months) being disciplined for an offense that happened a long time ago….
A fellow member of the Get Real Philippines Facebook page asked an interesting question. “Do you agree that a change in self must happen first before a change in rules? Or do you believe in the reverse?†This, for me, is a thought-provoking question. Some folks, especially proponents of Charter Change (to Parliamentary form of…
This is it. This is what some of us have been waiting for. No, it’s not really the much-anticipated appearance of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona in court. Okay, yes. We are going to be glued to the tube when he finally testifies, indeed. But at the back of our heads, the long wait…
It’s not mere hearsay anymore. A member of the House of Representatives, Congressman Tobias Tiangco confirmed what most people have long been suspecting – that there is a culture of bullying, intimidation, and bribery in Congress. The bullying it seems even comes from the House Majority Leader Neptali “Boyet” Gonzales II himself. But the Senator…
Read More “Congressman Tiangco: Impeachment complaint against CJ Corona was railroaded” »