Access to Information.

The Ampatuans and their associates had 597 bank accounts, 500 hectares of real property assets, 130 motor vehicles, 420 firearms, and a private army many hundreds strong. Their…

Mines that failed the Gina Lopez-led audit eventually passed a multi-stakeholder review, but the government does not want to disclose the results, citing executive privilege.

Tweet A technical working group (TWG) of the House committee on public information is eyeing to finalize the freedom of information (FOI) bill before Congress adjourns on October…

Records of the Land Transportation Office show that the Ampatuans could have as many as 121 various vehicles, including at least 53 top-of-line luxury rides that are the latest of…

The prosecution presented eight key witnesses, including a former vice mayor and a former trusted man of the Ampatuans. Separately, they testified on how they saw the planning and…

Rodrigo R. Duterte is a most secretive President when it comes to the details of his wealth. To this day, eight months after the April 30 deadline for filing, he has not released a…

By the numbers, the Ampatuan Massacre trial was a massive process that ran through nearly nine years. It involved 134 key witnesses for the prosecution, 58 private complainants…

Fraught still with attacks and threats — that is the sorry state of media freedom in the Philippines under the Duterte Administration. It highlights the unyielding reign of…

A week after the Ampatuan Massacre of Nov. 23, 2009, the Ampatuans tried to secure amnesty for dozens of their high-powered, high-end firearms. After the massacre, the AFP…

From 2002 to 2008, COA reports had scored huge expenses for what could have been identical projects in Maguindanao and ARMM, under the Ampatuans. The reports painted a sorry…

Numerous motions filed by lawyers of the accused Ampatuans had stretched the pace of the trial interminably. By 2013, they had filed nine motions for the judge to recuse herself…

The Ampatuans were Arroyo’s anointed lieutenants in ARMM, their alliance built largely on largesse. But the cash bonanza that Maguindanao secured from Arroyo failed dismally to…

Nearly nine years ago, the trial for multiple murder of about 200 accused in the Ampatuan Massacre began. Of the 91 arrested suspects, only 81 had been arraigned by 2013, and as…

Until they were charged with the murder of 58 persons on Nov. 23, 2009, the Ampatuans lived in mansions, traveled with a retinue of armed escorts in a convoy of black SUVs, flew…

Two days after the Ampatuan Massacre occurred on Nov. 23, 2009, a team of journalists, lawyers, and a forensic expert flew to the site to extend immediate humanitarian assistance…

Whoever steps down among “the Gods of Padre Faura” – and all judges and justices in the Philippines, in fact – gets to take home a stash of cash and a bagful of fancy tokens. But…

One has been chosen but who is the fairest, fittest of them all? Three associate justices of the Supreme Court were nominated to the chief justice’s post. What vision, judicial…

The procurement woes of the Comelec in the May 2019 elections had a backstory in an audit report the year prior. It continues to pay monthly rental for warehouse services without a…

Problems with procurement, logistics, supply chain management, tight implementation schedules, and bad — really bad — project management. A series of unfortunate events turned the…

Secure and digital — two words that spell out what SD cards should exemplify. But in the May 2019 elections, 4,650 SD cards of the 85,769 units deployed were found to be defective…

It’s a case of two failed biddings, and then a third negotiated one. The procurement of ballot paper and marking pens as a bundled contract for the May 2019 elections was one that…