- Lessons on Sovereignty from Vietnam
- GUINGONA LEADS PETITION FOR TRO vs COMELEC, SMARTMATIC
- Comelec' 'option to purchase' not binding, procurement board says
- U.S. SOFs operations in the Philippines: A matter of grave concern
- Election watchdog to Comelec: Smartmatic-TIM is no longer an option
- No one is Above the Law
- Political party system act OK'd on first reading
- OMR technology for 2013 proposed by Comelec advisory council
- The Global Stagnation and China
- Global Imbalances, Peak Oil, and the Next Global Economic Crisis
- The Great Regression
- The truth shall put you in jail
- Once more on the RMA
- Aquino III's redundancy
- Postponing the barangay elections: Are there better reasons?
- Forecasting the new presidency
- Daunting tasks for Comelec
Scarborough Shoal (AP Photo)
Questions arise about whether we have creative policy makers who are focused on the real issues in the disputed areas or inflexible bureaucrats who can only repeat old mantras as their solutions to current issues and problems.
By Ben Lim*
Posted by CenPEG
Getting to Know U.S. Foreign Policy
Chinese navy (AP Photo)
Rhetorical flourishes that America would come to the rescue of the Philippines in the event of an armed attack must be taken for what they are, balloons of hot air.
By Ben Lim*
Posted by CenPEG
- Rethinking democratization in the Philippines
- CenPEG chair honored as people's artist, teacher
- U.S. SOFs operations in the Philippines: A matter of grave concern
- No one is Above the Law
House prosecutor talks on trial of Chief Justice - Books, clothes given to urban poor children at CenPEG's Christmas party
- 20 years since the rejection of the bases treaty REVISITING THE DAY WE SAID NO! TO UNCLE SAM
GUINGONA LEADS PETITION FOR TRO vs COMELEC, SMARTMATIC
Legal move cites grave abuse, violation of procurement law by Comelec
AES Watch lead counsel, Felix Carao, Jr. (center) is interviewed by reporters after filing the citizens' petition for temporary restraining order at the Supreme Court, Padre Faura, Manila. With him are petitioners Nelson Celis (left) and Dr. Pablo Manalastas (right).
Posted by CenPEG.org
April 11, 2012
Through individual petitioners led by former Vice President Teofisto T. Guingona, Jr., the Automated Election System Watch (AES Watch) on April 10 sought a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) from the Supreme Court (SC) on the new contract signed by Comelec to buy Smartmatic-TIM PCOS machines for the 2013 automated elections.
Comelec' 'option to purchase' not binding, procurement board says
In a March 28, 2012 official letter, the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPBB) says the Commission on Elections' "option to purchase" the Smartmatic PCOS machines has expired and not binding.
- Were 13M voters partly disenfranchised in the 2010 automated elections?
DEFECTS AND VULNERABILITIES OF THE SMARTMATIC 2010 AES - Election watchdog to Comelec: Smartmatic-TIM is no longer an option
- Political party system act OK'd on first reading
- OMR technology for 2013 proposed by Comelec advisory council
- Election advocates, poll officials gear for 2013 polls
- AES Watch urges Congress to probe into CoA report of Smartmatic ballot box overpricing
Lessons on Sovereignty from Vietnam
ARTILLERY SHELLS: Inside the War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City, author strikes a pose with artillery shells used by U.S. forces against the Vietnamese villages suspected of being strongholds of the Vietnamese people's resistance.
In our current disputes over territorial claims with China, Vietnam presents lessons from which we could learn without surrendering our self-respect and sovereignty to ANY big power.
By Roland G. Simbulan
The Global Crisis and China
- The Global Stagnation and China
By John Bellamy Foster and Robert W. McChesney
Monthly Review February 2012, Vol. 63 No. 09 - Global Imbalances, Peak Oil, and the Next Global Economic Crisis
By Minqi Li - The Great Regression
By John Ripton - WORLDWIDE PROTESTS VS FINANCIAL GREED
- FIL-AMS ON OWS – TO STAND AGAINST ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IS JUSTIFIED AND NECESSARY
ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 03
In this issue:
- Gearing for 2013: Legal issues, political realignments
- Philippine-China territorial row through a different eye
- Development models debunked: A lesson for PNoy
Nowhere to Go: Will Aquino's Anti-Corruption Reform Work?
ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 02
Series of 2012
President Benigno S. Aquino III's much-vaunted anti-corruption program barely scratches the surface of the problem and gives no hint on how he will grapple with its systemic roots. Failing to address or worse abetting the fundamental roots that sustain corruption makes his administration's anti-corruption drive superficial if not a complete sham.
20 Years After: Revisiting the Local Government Code
ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 01
Series of 2012
There should be an end to the fruitless process of reforming laws and crafting development strategies where the dubious intention is in furtherance of elite governance sugar-coated by meaningless concepts of "transparency and accountability", LGU-civil society or "public-private partnership."
Pushing the Case vs Arroyo, Her Chief Justice a Step Further
ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 6
Series of 2011
The signals that the Aquino administration is sending so far are to provide a climate conducive to foreign investment and to project the image of a President determined to pursue reforms particularly in anti-corruption. At the moment though, they do not remove suspicions that what is unfolding only dramatizes a feud between political dynasties and a motive to make the high court more like pro-Aquino than being pro-Arroyo.
FOI and the State's Hegemony of Information
ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 05
Series of 2011
Clearly, the presidential strategy with regard to the FOI bill is to put heavy restrictions so as to make the government in control of public information. Such impediments will favor the state if and when the bill is passed – or would make legislation more protracted so as to stall its final enactment. Either way, the national government wins. But it also signifies a weak regime. Hiding information makes a government unworthy of public trust. Fear of public scrutiny and criticism only means a government unsure of itself.
On the 10th anniversary of 9/11: The War on Terror — Is the World More Secure?
ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 04
Series of 2011
The U.S. is now trapped in a global war of its own making. It will be embroiled in more wars possibly in the next 10-20 years as a result of which it will create more enemies and make the use of force a long-term necessity.
Living in the past: Mishandling the Spratlys territorial row
Issue Analysis No. 03
Series of 2011
Government must abandon the 20th century politics of colonialism and neo-colonialism and begin to act more responsibly with a mature and independent foreign policy.