May 2019 Elections: Fraud-free? Fault-free? 16M failed to vote for party-list, missed names on back of ballot By Karol Anne M. Ilagan Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism FAILED TO pick a party-list group in the last elections? You weren’t the only
By Karol Anne M. Ilagan and Malou Mangahas Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism THE MAY 2019 elections have been declared to be fraud-free by both election officials and watchdogs, but by all indications, its conduct and process were not entirely
A DISASTROUS mess. That, in a nutshell, is the picture painted by field reports obtained by PCIJ from poll watchdogs National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) and Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) regarding the pilot testing of the
Sustainable income GOVERNOR GENEROSO, Davao Oriental (MindaNews/08 August) – The Biodiversity Partnership Project covers 12 of the town’s 20 barangays namely, Sergio Osmeña, Tandang Sora, Upper Tibanban, Oregon, Tiblawan, Luzon, Surop, Tagabebe, Pundaguitan and Tamban. It involves 121 households, each
Valuable but endangered GOVERNOR GENEROSO, Davao Oriental (MindaNews/07 August) – An evergreen large tree of the Araucariaceae family, almaciga grows up to 65 meters in most Philippine forests and mountain ridges. Its diameter can reach two meters at breast height
GOVERNOR GENEROSO, Davao Oriental (MindaNews/06 August) – This coastal town used to be called Sigaboy, a name that has remained widely used by both locals and outsiders. The word came from “siga”, short for almaciga, so called for its resin
“When it rains here, it leaks. When the sun is high, it is very hot inside. The heat is intolerable,” Norphia Dipatuan, mother of six lamented.
BY THE DISCLOSURES in their asset records, President Rodrigo Duterte, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, and former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte have interests and engagements in a total of at least 23 corporate entities.
IN THE May 2019 elections, not just two but all three children of President Rodrigo R. Duterte by estranged spouse Elizabeth A. Zimmerman are running. But unlike those of many other candidates, their clan coffers won’t be running empty. In fact, these are probably going to end up largely untouched, or may even be further enhanced wealth-wise, as in previous campaigns.
RICH man, poor man, Mayor, President.
Back in 15th century England, this was how a traditional nursery rhyme and fortune-telling game ran. Later in the United States, it became a popular counting song of children playing tag as they called out who would be “it.” In the Philippines today, it could well be the riddle that is the state of wealth of the President’s family.
The Philippines generates an enormous amount of trash and is the third worst ocean plastic polluter in the world, according to a 2015 study in the journal Science. The trash is piling up on land, clogging coastlines, spilling into the
By Karol Ilagan and Malou Mangahas Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism Click to watch video DAVAO CITY (PCIJ / 6 Sept) – For his home region and bailiwick of Davao Region, President Rodrigo R. Duterte gave the largest share of
By Karol Ilagan and Malou Mangahas Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism SIXTEEN TIMES across a two-hour interview he uttered the word “unfair.” At one point, he said it five times in a row: “’Yun ang unfair (That’s what’s unfair). ‘Yun
IT’S AS GOOD as it gets for Davao Region, home and bailiwick of President Rodrigo R. Duterte. And by the government’s own data, it’s as bad as it gets for many other regions of the country in terms of the
By Karol Ilagan and Malou Mangahas Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism THREE HAD been suspended or blacklisted, including one for submitting fake tax clearance certificates. One had its corporate registration revoked. The officers of four others are facing trial for
By the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism Editor’s Note: PCIJ’s multi-part report on civil works projects under the Duterte Administration is the composite work of seven PCIJ editors and reporters, and three student interns, over the last eight months. It
by Karol Ilagan Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism THE GOVERNMENT awards a contractor-bidder a contract if its bid amount has been evaluated and found to be the “lowest calculated bid.” The bid will be subjected next to post-qualification, which involves
MAITUM, Sarangani (MindaNews/13 June) – Whenever the weather is fine here, the vast Celebes Sea usually offers a spectacular view of the sunset, a fitting moment to end the day in a glorious mood. It is usually during these times
By Karol Ilagan and Malou Mangahas Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism CONTRACTORS tied to political clans have been awarded a combined total of P306 million in contracts to build transitional shelter units and roads for residents of Marawi City and
By Malou Mangahas and Karol Ilagan Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism With reporting by Carolyn O. Arguillas, MindaNews THE SIEGE of the Islamic City of Marawi marks its first anniversary on May 23 but its vaunted multi-billion peso rehabilitation and
PRESIDENT RODRIGO R. Duterte is already on his second year as the country’s chief executive, but the polls that clinched him that post continue to bedevil the Commission on Elections (Comelec) – and with reason. Indeed, despite giving the candidates
KABACAN, North Cotabato – Tambay Sambutuan and Baiyan Basayan arrived in the village of Cuyapon in this municipality to seek temporary shelter from the aerial and ground assault against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Camp Rajamuda during the
KAUSWAGAN, Lanao del Norte (MindaNews) – Fifty-seven-year-old Elisa Recla lived all her life in Barangay Tacub in this town. But there was a day in August 2008 that she could not forget. At dawn on August 18, 13 days after
On the same day the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), on 27 March 2014, residents of Wao town in Lanao del Sur staged a rally to express their desire to
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/08 March) – The peace and development agenda of the Duterte administration aims for, among others, “meaningful implementation of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro and Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro towards healing in the Bangsamoro,” and “completion
BARANGAY LAYOG, Pagalungan, Maguindanao (MindaNews / 19 Feb) — At the height of the wars between government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2000 and 2003, hundreds of thousands of civilians were displaced and languished in evacuation
By The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism BY ALL indications, the May 2016 elections are no different from previous polls in which those donating to the campaign coffers of candidates and political parties turn out to be the same business
By The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism IN 2010, PCIJ reported that only 308 donors contributed in the presidential race that Benigno Aquino III won. In the last presidential elections, where Rodrigo R. Duterte emerged as victor, that number has
By Karol Ilagan and Malou Mangahas Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism THE IMAGE Rodrigo R. Duterte projected of his 2016 presidential campaign was that it was one run on a shoestring budget. It supposedly had no donors with vested interests,
Pregnancy and all its implications can all together be difficult to bear by women who live in varying social and economic conditions. To some it’s a joy; to others, it’s a result of cascading life situations that seem to be
KUALA LUMPUR (MindaNews/28 January) — When the history of the peace process between the Philippine government (GPH) and the Bangsamoro is written, the story of the women who helped and are helping make it possible – inside the formal peace
WHILE MOST of the tycoons who bankrolled candidates and political parties in the 2010 Presidential elections were curiously absent, the 2013 midterm elections still had high-roller donors who accounted for the bulk of the campaign donations made to the 12
LAWYERS ARE taught early on to make the distinction between companies and their officers and shareholders. But Rona Ann Caritos, acting Executive Director of the lawyers’ election watchdog group Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE), indicates that this may not
First of Three Parts IN THEORY, elections are supposed to be the great leveler or equalizer of democracy. The vote of any ordinary man scraping a living off the streets is supposed to have the same clout as that of
LAKE SEBU, South Cotabato (MindaNews/10 March) — A paradise lost. Seventy-five year old Sindoy Cuyan recalls how as a young T’boli girl, swimming in Lake Sebu was “pure fun,” its waters so clear, the fishes so bountiful. “We had no
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/12 December) – Typhoon Pablo may have spared residents here from its wrath and fury when it swatted across large areas in eastern Mindanao. But the pain and anguish are tearing apart families and loved ones of
Last of two parts TAMPAKAN, South Cotabato (MindaNews/12 Nov) —Potentially the largest foreign direct investment in the Philippines, the $5.9 billion Tampakan mining project faces two major challenges: the ban on open pit mining imposed by the South Cotabato provincial
1st of two parts TAMPAKAN, South Cotabato (MindaNews/11 Nov) — How huge is the proposed open pit mine that will gouge out a mountain here to extract 17.9 million ounces of gold deposits and 15 million metric tons of copper?
CARMEN, Surigao del Sur (MindaNews/19 September) – Fr. Raymond Ambray, spokesperson of Caraga Watch, an environment watchdog composed of various churches and sectoral groups, said they found an unlikely ally in the Surigao Development Corporation (Sudecor).
CARMEN, Surigao del Sur (MindaNews/17 September) — The Aquino administration’s total log ban is endangering, instead of protecting, the remaining forest cover in the six towns of Surigao del Sur, as illegal logging activities have intensified at such an alarming scale, a church-led group here said.
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/19 July) – It was not the first time American soldiers were seen taking part in actual security activities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or the Philippine National Police. In the series of bombings
2nd of three parts GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/17 July) – A trail of abuses on the one hand, and on the other, a string of humanitarian services such as the medical civic action programs in Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat provinces,
MAASIM, Sarangani (MindaNews/16 July) — From afar, the steel facility looks like a cellular phone tower but it is not. It is called the Coast Watch Station (CWS), a facility that can monitor all vessels coming in and going out
Among the first to file petitions before the Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of the VFA were the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, the Philippine Constitution Association, and Senators Teofisto Guingona Jr., Raul Roco and Sergio Osmena III.
2nd of three parts Singapore solution On 13 September 1991, the Philippine Senate, voting 12-11, rejected the renewal of the Military Bases Agreement. Nationalists called it a most glorious moment in Philippine history. But their victory would proved to be
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/23 April) – In October 2010, President Benigno S. Aquino III declared he would seek a review of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States, especially the provisions on the custody of US servicemen facing criminal charges. His statement came amid tensions with China over the disputed Spratly Islands, in the West Philippine Sea.
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, picture: the few good men and women in high and low positions who follow the law most diligently and truthfully.
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 last. The question, however, is whether or not the general public’s increased familiarity with the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth or SALN would finally shame public servants into taking it seriously and accomplishing it beyond token compliance.
