Governance.

SOME TRANSPARENCY online, but also some opaque and chaotic disbursement practices offline: That seems to be the sorry story so far of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM)…

LAGUNA GOVERNOR Emilio Ramon ‘ER’ Ejercito never got to have the success in the film industry that was enjoyed by his uncle Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada. But in the May 2013 elections, he…

Laguna Governor Emilio Ramon ‘ER’ Ejercito. Photo courtesy of laguna.gov.ph. LAGUNA IS supposed to be his clan’s ancestral province and he already enjoyed formidable name recall…

AFTER A NOISY CLASH over the possible disallowance of claims for income tax payments, the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage System (MWSS) and its two private concessionaires are in…

IMPLEMENTING THE Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) takes a long and layered process because it is a lump-sum item, which means that its purpose has yet to be identified…

Last of Two Parts WHO GETS VOTED is just half the story of elections. Who finances the campaign, who gains or loses money, and by how much, are the more salacious pegs to the…

First of Two Parts THE OPULENT names of tycoons and captains of industry, as well as of firms ranked among the country’s top 500 by sales and revenue, used to populate the list of…

THEY WERE supposedly set up to uplift the lives of those in need. Yet in their first few months of operation, they served a rather different, yet specific, purpose: to promote the…

SUBMITTING DOCUMENTS to government regulators is usually a routine matter assigned to messengers who hand over the parcels, and get a receipt in return. But when Manila Water Corp…

IN PRINCIPLE, the setting of basic water rates for customers of Manila Water Co. and Maynilad Water Services Inc. is easy enough to understand. Of course, the key phrase there is…

IT’S election campaign season again and candidates have started to harangue voters with a barrage of promises of reforms. When he came to power in June 2010, President Benigno…

“I’M NOT hearing this,” the procurement expert recalls himself saying as he tried to cover his ears. He was recounting an interesting incident that happened sometime last year…

THE PROVINCE of Pampanga is one of the worst places to be in during the rainy season. Located at the bottom of a geological depression, it lies at the heart of Central Luzon’s…

AMID the rampant misdeclaration or underdeclaration of their Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) by senior public officials lies a prettier, often overlooked…

WHATEVER THE outcome of the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato C. Corona, a once-ignored piece of document seems to be getting the attention it deserves at…

MAGUINDANAO:The Quest for Justice is a documentary produced by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism on the second anniversary of the Maguindanao Massacre. After two…

Is the President still part of the solution, or is he now part of the problem? Advocates of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill raised this question after Malacanang again failed…

THE apparent inability of majority of Metro Manila local governments to respond quickly and fully to citizen requests for asset disclosure records of local officials, as well as…

POLITICS and government, business and finance, education and culture. In all these and more, the national capital region, Metro Manila, is supposed to lead the rest of the nation…

IT HAS been described as an “investment in the next generation,” with its supposed results of millions of healthier, better educated Filipinos not expected to be realized anytime…

FIRST, THE good news: According to Ateneo’s Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC), the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program’s cash grants and the conditionalities have kept…