Be a Hero! Defeat Con-Ass!

Migrants, Remittance-dependence, and the Philippine Economy

As our contribution for the Philippine process of the Peoples’ Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights to prepare for the 2nd Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) which was hosted by the Philippines on October 27–30, I was tasked to present for the Freedom from Debt Coalition on the effects of migrants remittances on the Philippine economy.

What I did was to look on important macroeconomic indicators, specifically employment, fiscal indicators, and monetary indicators (many of which were made available by the Philippine government for the public on the NSCB website). This was my presentation:

FDC presentation for Migrants

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Proposals to Resolve the Recurring Oil Crisis in the Philippines

I have written a piece, originally for Palag Na! but later for Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Transportasyon (PMT), that is meant to consolidate and give a framework for proposals, both popularly demanded and what we managed to come up with, to resolve the recurring oil crisis in the Philippines. This is in the context of the oil price crisis of mid-2008. But the proposals, I think, remain valid even if the financial crisis and the global recession eroded the price of petroleum recently.

As with any alternative, the long-term and strategic changes needed is inevitably tied with the short-term and the mid-term - so the short-term measure of regulating the domestic downstream oil industry is inevitably related to the mid-term measure of supply-side management and industrial structure and the long-term vision of demand-side management towards oil independence, assuming oil to be a finite resource. Realizing these proposals, of course, must be accompanied with better service standards from the end of the transportation industry (and workers) themselves, something which can be developed later on.

A Tribute to a Patriot

Francis Magalona (1964-2009)

Man from Manila

Soldiers Unite with Brig. Gen. Danny Lim

Experiences of the South in Chinese Lending

At the height of ZTE-NBN scandal, we are forced to review the extent of People's Republic of China's (PRC) influence in the affairs of the nation and of the economy. The big picture tells us that we are not the only one, that we are but a piece

Here is the presentation I used in the Debt and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) cluster in the 7th Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF 7) held from 13-15 October, 2008 in Beijing, China. I attempted to give to preview of the link between China's geopolitical strategy, lending (particularly of CEXIM), and domestic elite politics.

Experiences of the South in Chinese Lending

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